Fresh Water Should Be Common Property: My Own Debate Theses

[FreedomOverdose 0]

These are the theses of the karl-popper debate me and my team made a year ago. Please rate them as it is important to us . Thank you!

 

Affirmative theses

Resolution: Private management of fresh water utilities is preferable o their public management.

Definitions

Fresh water can be defined as water with less than 0.5 parts per thousand dissolved salts.[1] Freshwater bodies include lakes, rivers, and some bodies of underground water. The ultimate source of fresh water is the precipitation of atmosphere in the form of rain and snow.

Management: the act or manner of managing; handling, direction, or control.

Private: belonging to some particular person, or a group of persons

Utility: the state or quality of being useful; usefulness: This chemical has no utility as an agricultural fertilizer.

Preferable: more desirable. Worthy to be preferred

Public: Owned and managed by the state.

Criterion: To ensure water access for all with a “smart” price.

1.Privatization increases efficiency through higher turnover ratios of management.

It’s easier to change management in a private firm, and the threat of bankruptcy or overthrow of management motivate the firm to be as efficient as possible. Also the invoice process works better in a private company: If the customers don’t pay the bills, this is a direct loss for the private company and it immediately takes punishment measures. In the public company, if the people don’t pay the bills, company won’t need to worry about it, because they are not a person’s or a group of person’s money, but are the state’s money. So, in a public company there is not enough motivation for efficiency. Private firms also invest more in research and development, leading to more innovation and technological progress. This will lead to a better infrastructure, better water, less water loss etc. This will also make the prices more reasonable.

Evidences :

a)Poor water quality continues to pose a major threat to human health. Diarrhoeal disease alone amounts to an estimated 4.1 % of the total global burden of disease and is responsible for the deaths of 1.8 million people every year (WHO, 2004). It was estimated that 88% of that burden is attributable to unsafe water supply, sanitation and hygiene and is mostly concentrated on children in developing countries. These evidences show that the public sector was unable to prevent these diseases. The World Heath Organization says that 90 % of the cases can be solved only with privatization.

b)The lack of adequate monitoring systems, the rapid changes in economic activities, and the continuous movements in population make it difficult to assess the use of water resources. Available data suggests that irrigation and mining rely mostly on surface water, while households and industry on groundwater from aquifers. Domestic water demand is increasing not only because of population growth but also because of the increase in the level of water losses, estimated to be greater than 50 percent in all cities. This evidence shows that even though Albania has one of the richest hydrography of the world, the government has failed in Albania’s water system. In the following countries privatization has been successful: Nigeria, Senegal, Mali, South Africa etc.

c) In Buenos Aires, where, in 1993, SUEZ was awarded the largest concession agreement in the world, the reality encountered in the field required an innovative technical and social approach to supply the city's disadvantaged areas. In 11 years the Group's efforts have allowed over 2 million people to be connected to drinking water supply and 1 million people to have sanitation, without increasing in the price of water and with a drop of infant mortality of 24% in the poorest municipalities.

2.The budget of a private company is more efficient. It is unlimited and independent.

Privatization is driven by financial and technical concerns. Proponents of privatization argue that the private sector can mobilize capital faster and cheaper than the public sector. Private companies can manage more safely and more efficiently water delivery systems for millions of people. For example, a public company should take permission o access the state’s budget and this will take a very long time. In contrary, a private company can directly take the permission, not from the state but from its owners. Also private firms don’t need to react to the political pressures of the state, which allows them to be more

efficient. Water is an essential public need and a basic need of every human being. That is that it needs to be guarantied for everyone. This also makes water a politically sensitive topic. A public company is always under the state’s political pressure, and this will compromise their decisions about different problems. This is a very negative consequence. The private company will act unattached.

Evidences : The state has a limited budget for each sector. For the water sector it has from 1-4% of GDP, while on the other hand private companies have an unlimited budged for example Vivendi and Suez.

3.Water price is the most important mean for the demand management in the private sector.

Increased water prices decreases the demand for water and in the same time increases the water supply because the minimization of water loss becomes an interesting option. In the meantime the increased price improves the managing effectivity

. The water price has the objective to improve the water using efficiency.

Evidences: Due to increased water rates and more stringent regulation, several industries, including chemical, pulp and paper, textiles, and metallurgy industries, have changed production processes and have made significant progress in reducing their water demands in recent years. Industrial abstractions from public supply in West Germany decreased by one-third since the 1970. There was a sharp decrease in industrial water use in Sweden between 1970 and 1980, and a slow decrease from then on. Industrial water use in the Czech Republic fell by 40% between 1985 and. Industry innovates when it has sufficient incentive. Production cost reduction is often its best incentive.

 

 

 

 

 

Negative theses

Resolution: Private management of fresh water utilities is not preferable to their public management.

Definitions

Fresh water can be defined as water with less than 0.5 parts per thousand dissolved salts.[1] Freshwater bodies include lakes, rivers, and some bodies of underground water. The ultimate source of fresh water is the precipitation of atmosphere in the form of rain and snow.

Management: the act or manner of managing; handling, direction, or control.

Private: belonging to some particular person, or a group of persons

Utility: the state or quality of being useful; usefulness: This chemical has no utility as an agricultural fertilizer.

Preferable: more desirable . Worthy to be preferred

Public: Owned and managed by the state.

Criteria:

1)New researches reveals that the water multinationals privatizing water in the developing world are dogged by corruption, due to financial collapse and have long track records of exploiting the poor.

In practice privatization and corruption have been inseparable. The world’s largest multinationals have been convicted many times of paying bribes to obtain water contracts. Subsidiaries of a dozen multinationals (from U.K, France, Sweden, Switzerland, Canada etc.) are being prosecuted for paying bribes to obtain contracts.

2) It is the government duty to provide its citizens fresh water.

The government should insure electric energy, clean air, food and fresh water (the basic human needs).The state it is closer to their citizens and can make the balance of fresh water with the other human needs.

[travstatesmen 0]

Hmm, I am not sure what you are asking of us. You say that this is a group thesis from last year, so clearly you are not looking for critique before you submit it. The subject matter of your thesis is very controversial and opens some good avenues for further discussion on whether essential utilities should be privatized or should be controlled by the state. But I'm not sure that you are inviting discussion of the subject matter, but of the thesis itself. Could you clarify what exactly it is that you are asking for?

[FreedomOverdose 0]

Well, I did the debate last year, and this year we have many more other debates to do. What I want is some simple reviews, so we could improve our future debates

[travstatesmen 0]

When I was in school I had a severe speech impediment, so I never considered joining the debating team, which is a shame as I think I have quite a good analytical brain, but giving voice to my opinions was not as easy as it is now through the medium of the text-based Internet. Consequently I can't really give much advice on debating style or improving your debating technique, as I don't know the "rules of the game" in a formal debating setting. I do wonder though, whether there needs to be more citing of sources, such as "the 1990 Annual report of the World Health Organization shows that...", or "Joe Bloggs, the Sanitation Inspector for the Metrowater Company of New Delhi is quoted in the New Delhi Times as saying that..." It just seems to me that you need to back up your arguments more, give them the underpinning of some recognized authority and a way for your listeners to confirm what you have said should they want to. I don't even know if this is necessary in a formal debating situation, but as a Thesis I would have thought that this is essential.

[ASHISHRANJAN 0]

HELLOHI, I AM SSHISH RANJANYES WATER SHOULD BE COMMON PROPERTYBECAUSE IF IT IS NOT GOING TO CONCIDREREDTO BE COMMON PROPERTY THEN PEOPLE IS GOING TO WASTE IT AS THEY THINK IT IS THEIR OWNFATHER PROPERTY