Nestle’s Water Privatization in the Aftermath of Flint, Michigan

Nestle’s Water Privatization in the Aftermath of Flint, Michigan

In the aftermath of the Flint water crisis, residents have gone without clean tap water for over 1,000 days. Every citizen of Flint is given just one case of water per day, about 10 liters, to be used for drinking, bathing, and cooking. Meanwhile, one of the biggest corporations in the world is doing its part to perpetuate the movement toward water privatization, by bottling and selling water from a source two hours away.

Who Benefits from Water Privatization?

That aforementioned company profiting from the water source in Evart, MI is Nestlé, the multinational foodstuff corporation that, among a number of controversies, became notorious for its former CEO’s statement when he basically said he didn’t believe water should be a basic human right. Nestlé is the largest producer of bottled water in the world, reaping nearly $8 billion dollars in profit last year from water alone. At it’s facility in Evart, the company makes between $500,000 to $1.5 million a day, while only paying $200 a year to extract that water.

 

But now the company has launched a massive PR campaign backtracking on the words of Emeritus CEO, Peter Brabeck, claiming that Nestlé is concerned with the global water supply and the shortage we will soon be faced with if we continue our wasteful ways.

While the company touts the fact it has cut its total water usage by 60 percent, the fact of the matter is that bottling water is a water and energy intensive process. In fact, it requires between 1.2 to 1.4 liters of water to bottle a single liter of water, not to mention the energy required to transport it and the subsequent pollution it generates.

In a video released by the corporation in 2013, Brabeck says that he’s always supported the human right to water, though that contradicts his words in a 2005 documentary, We Feed The World, in which he states that NGOs ‘banging on’ about humans having a right to water is an extreme solution compared to corporate water privatization.

In Brabeck’s more recent 2013 video recorded from Nestlé’s lavish campus in Switzerland, he says his words were misconstrued and that what he really meant was that all humans should have a right to water to meet their daily fundamental needs, but not for superfluous things like watering their lawn or washing their car. He says he believes everyone deserves between 50-100 liters of water per day.

The residents of Flint sure could have used that big of an allowance over the past few years.

Have They Solved the Water Crisis in Flint?

It’s been nearly three years since it became evident that the water in Flint was undrinkable and in some cases nearly three times more toxic than what the EPA considers hazardous waste. When lead was found in the water, after the city’s water source was switched from Lake Huron to the Flint River, the damage had already been done.

The switch was implemented to ‘cut costs’ and balance the budget, even though it was known that large corporations like DuPont and General Motors had been dumping waste in the river for decades. The water was then treated with a chemical that eroded the pipes it was being pumped through, leaching lead into it.

It’s estimated that up to 12,000 children were potentially given lead poisoning, while city and state officials lied about the safety of public water. Not to mention the 12 people that have died due to causes directly linked to the contamination, and the 80 now suffering from Legionnaire’s disease. General Motors even stopped using the water under the fear that it would corrode its auto parts.

To add insult to injury, Flint residents pay eight times the national average for their water utility. Flint water was so contaminated that even using it to bathe gave people horrible rashes.

Last month, a study led by the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality, MDEQ, claimed that 90 percent of water samples collected in Flint are now well below the federal threshold of lead ppb. But this is also the same agency that initially lied about the safety of the water to Michigan residents, leaving many eternally wary of the state’s claims.

 

Flint water crisis

 

The other good news is that 15 government officials have now been criminally charged for offenses ranging from conspiracy, to obstruction of justice, and involuntary manslaughter, though none of the cases have yet to come to trial. At the same time, Gov. Rick Snyder has somehow evaded any charges, with a million-dollar legal team protecting him from Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette, who has said attempts to interview Snyder were “not successful.”

Filmmaker and political activist, Michael Moore, wrote a petition to have Snyder imprisoned, saying not even international terrorist organizations have figured out how to do something of this magnitude.

It seems stories like these are becoming all too common when government and corporate interests start to merge, choosing profit and money over people’s health, safety, and livelihood. Is this an inevitability in our crony capitalist society, or is there something that can be done to end this kind of corruption?

 

Privatizing Water Pros and Cons

 

Pros:

  • Short-term ‘paydays’ that could give cities a financial boost, close deficits, and create a surplus when a significant price is paid for purchase and use of a water utility.

 

  • Some argue that privatization leads to greater efficiency in managing, treating, and distributing water by companies with more resources to do so. These companies may also have the resources to better maintain water infrastructure.

 

Cons: 

  • Rate increases would be common as a corporation’s goal is to maximize profit. A corporation’s success is typically measured as one that continues to increase revenue, therefore rate hikes would be common and often. A corporation shouldn’t be able to hold something that is essential to life at a ransom. This would inevitably affect low-income families disproportionately.

 

  • Reduced control from the public sector. Once we give a corporation the rights to our water, they can do what they want. This could lead to reduced quality and treatment to cut costs.

 

  • Corruption between the corporation and government. We’ve already seen what’s happening in Michigan, if a corporation wants a better contract they could use the essential water source as a leveraging tool with politicians to get their way.

 

  • Paying a public utility bill is untaxed. Private companies have to pay taxes and that burden is transferred to the consumer.

 

  • Private companies can sell the water to whomever they like. If there’s a water shortage somewhere, the company can start selling its water at a higher price to that area in need, draining the local area of its source.



China’s Citizen Score Creates An Orwellian Social Rating System

An episode of the dystopian sci-fi series, Black Mirror, is becoming a reality with the implementation of China’s social credit system. Though still in its nascency, China’s citizen score will become mandatory by 2020, affecting citizens’ abilities to get jobs, access the internet, and travel, based on the way the government deems their behavior.

The Chinese Social Credit System

It’s voluntary for now, but once it decides on the best algorithm, the Chinese government will obligate every citizen to abide by a set of rules that will dictate their ability to access services within society. There are currently eight companies competing to build this platform which will be enforced by the country’s massive surveillance apparatus.

There are already a number of users who have voluntarily signed up for the program, in hopes they may be rewarded, or at least immune to punishment when the system is mandated. Some believe the program will benefit society as a whole, while others fear their children may suffer if parents’ social scores become a factor in deciding which schools they can attend.

AliBaba is one of the top contenders for the interface, as its mobile payment app, AliPay, is used by roughly 520 million citizens. Its interface, Sesame Credit, is similar to a FICO credit score, but instead of having your financial behavior affect your ability to take out a loan or credit card, Sesame Credit would affect one’s ability to get into certain restaurants, travel, or even go on a date with someone.

The score can be affected by a number of behaviors, including what you say on social media, smoking in public, jaywalking, or getting into disputes with others. These behaviors are then translated into a numerical “sincerity” score and entered into the system.

Some of the citizens who have already signed up say they enjoy using it and that it has influenced them to be better members of society. They say they’re more conscientious about their behavior in public and the way they treat others.

But those who see how eerily Orwellian the system is, warn that it is a type of gamified social obedience, where a point system is made to feel like a competition that subversively allows for authoritarian social control.

When you also add the fact that the system permits what others say about you to affect your score, the premise of 1984 becomes all too relevant, creating a system where everyone fears their neighbors’ perception of them. This self-policing network effect is a typical strategy of oppression, but with a social credit score, it becomes amplified with less effort from the government.

Keeping with the gamification of the pilot program, rewards have been offered for those willing to subject themselves early. Faster check-ins at hotels, car rentals without a deposit, and shopping loans have been gifted to early adopters.

 

view from surveillance camera

Enforcing China’s Citizen Score

So how does the government monitor its citizens in order to know when to dock them points for any number of minor infractions? With an omniscient surveillance system composed of millions of cameras and a universal database of every citizen.

Known as the Dang’an System, the government maintains a unique dossier on every citizen in the country for the duration of their life. This file can be accessed in seconds by a highly advanced surveillance system complete with facial recognition software. And its omniscience is ever-increasing through the use of machine learning.

Citizens are not allowed to view the personal files the government has compiled on them since their birth – to do so would be a severe violation of the law, disobeying the party and putting one’s standing as a citizen in jeopardy.

The technology is used ostensibly for security threats, ensuring citizens’ public safety. Though it is also used to shame people for minor transgressions, displaying one’s photo on a large public screen for infractions such as jaywalking, followed instantly by a text message delivering a fine.

The technology has also been promoted to its citizens by selling it as an ostensibly convenient tool for daily life. Citizens only need their face scanned to order food at vending machines, check-in at the airport in seconds, or gain access to Wi-Fi.

But much like the credit score, these apparent conveniences are a façade for the more insidious reality behind the technology; that the government is watching and ensuring every one of its citizen’s behavior.

And it goes beyond traditional surveillance methods of CCTV observation in public places. The next phase that is already underway, includes police officers wearing body cameras and glasses equipped with facial recognition software that can identify suspected criminals and threatening gestures. These body cams are even fitted with a wide-angle, fisheye lens allowing for “720-degrees” of recording range.

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