Along six rivers on four continents, the Deutsche Welle documentary explores the question of why this vital resource, water, is becoming increasingly scarce - and who’s responsible. 70% of fresh water is used in agriculture and it may be increasing because human population is rising and we all need food to eat, we and our animals - a large proportion of these 70% goes into the production of animal feed. Our excessive meat consumption is partly to blame for the fact that mighty rivers such as the Spanish Ebro or the Colorado in the currentUSA and Mexico are drying up. Factory farming businesses are worth billions to major agricultural companies, but this overuse of water often goes hand in hand with its pollution. Europe has outsourced its dirtiest industries to countries such as India. Around 20% of global water pollution is caused by the textile industry. The Deutsche Welle film provides rare insights into Indian factories and life in the places where contaminants are discharged.
The reporters say it i not all bad news: in the one hour and half film the Deutsche Welle reporters also meet people who’ve come up with solutions. In France, dams are dismantled to revitalize rivers; in an Egyptian oasis the inhabitants experiment with hydroponics; and in India, an individual known as the "water man” uses a millennia-old technique to coax rivers from deserts that dried up decades ago. How succesful they will be we may see in time, or our children may see it if they survive the changes.
The discharge of raw sewage into rivers, and the financial problems of major water companies, have become serious political and social concerns for the public. British cities have faced similar challenges in the past, most notoriously with the ‘Great Stink’ in London in the year 1858 that led to the construction of Bazalgette’s sewer. Consequently, many cities took utilities into public ownership in the late nineteenth century in what is termed ‘gas and water socialism’. Why did this happen, and why were utilities returned to private ownership in the later twentieth century? The lecture will conclude by assessing the success or failure of the current system of regulated private ownership. Should there be a return to public ownership?
The Greshan lecture chapters are the following:
- 00:00 Introduction
- 00:17 Current water crisis
- 02:36 Concepts to understand
- 08:17 Victorian water management
- 18:45 The Great Stink & public sewage
- 25:42 River pollution and regulation
- 35:21 Public versus private water supply
- 46:16 Privatization and modern issues
- 46:52 Today’s crisis and future solutions
- 57:46 Conclusion: did the Victorians get It right?
Professor Martin Daunton is a British academic and historian, he was Master of Trinity Hall, Cambridge, between 2004 and 201, and heis Emeritus Professor of Economic History at the University of Cambridge.
