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(Photograph: Christopher Furlong/Getty Images) by Juliette Jowit in Paris - guardian.co.uk Drought in Kenya. Concern about dwindling water supplies has been rising with growing populations and economies. World Bank and OECD say water is a finite resource that must be valued at a higher price in order to repair old supply systems and build new ones.
Major economies are pushing for substantial increases in the price of water around the world as concern mounts about dwindling supplies and rising population.
With official UN figures showing that 1 billion people lack access to clean drinking water and more than double that number do not have proper sanitation, increases in prices will be – and in some countries are already proving to be – hugely controversial.
However experts argue that as long as most countries provide huge subsidies for water it will not be possible to change the wasteful habits of consumers, farmers and industry, nor to raise the investment needed to repair old supply systems and build new ones. And price rises can be managed so that they do not penalise the poorest.
Last Friday, the World Bank held a high-level private meeting about water in New York, at which higher prices were discussed. Days before that the OECD, which represents the world's major economies, issued three water reports calling for prices to rise.
"Putting a price on water will make us aware of the scarcity and make us take better care of it," said Angel Gurría, the OECD secretary-general. It has also been a key theme at this week's meeting of industry leaders in Paris, hosted by Global Water Intelligence...MORE...
