樱桃视频residents will get a chance to learn about the value of something many Canadians take for granted - water.
The National Film Board produced documentary, Dead in the Water - playing Wednesday (April 25) at 8 p.m. at the Adventure Centre - examines the ethics and outcomes of the privatization of what many consider a public trust.
The world's population is on the rise, but water supplies are not, and one in four people have no access to clean drinking water. Though water has traditionally been a public commodity, some governments have struggled to provide their citizens with an appropriate, potable amount of the crucial resource. Spotting an opportunity to capitalize on the problem, major corporations have bought into this public domain, often with the help of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund.
Written and directed by famed CBC Fifth Estate journalist Neil Docherty, Dead in the Water examines the pros and extensive cons of the privatization of water. Drawing from a pool of experts, the film pieces together the history and future of the world's water supplies. The film draws on testimonies from heavyweights like Jamal Saghir, director for energy and water in the World Bank group's private sector development, and Jeffrey Sachs, special advisor to UN secretary general Kofi Annan on the Millenium Development Goals and director of the Earth Institute at Columbia University where he teaches sustainable development and health policy and management.
"The rich have gotten so rich and the poor are so desperately poor that even tiny amounts from the rich as a fraction of their vast income and wealth could make all the difference for people that are dying of their poverty right now," reads an excerpt from Sach's interview on the topic, posted on CBC's Fifth Estate website archives. "Less than one percent of the income of the rich world could enable the impoverished world to achieve the millennium development goals. Less than one percent of our annual income. But since we're not ready to look these facts squarely in the face, it seems, we're avoiding even that kind of action. We make commitments, we say sure we'll give more money but by the time our political leaders duck the issue, the money is apparently nowhere to be found."
