The commodification of water, whereby water would become a typical commodity to be bought and sold, elicits a sense of deja vu for political economists with a sense of history (although, is there ever really another kind...?). This is a possibility both frightening and menacing, the likes of which we've seen before...
Raj Patel makes the salient point in his book 'The Value of Nothing" that there are no innate or inherent qualities to particular goods that makes them commodities. Societies make very explicit choices regarding particular goods to be bought and sold. As a telling example, he uses land. Prior to the enclosures that took place in Britain and elsewhere, the land on which the majority of people (the peasantry) lived on was not necessarily privately held. However, British society made a very explicit choice to enclose former commonly farmed land, by making arable lands entitled to a single owner. This made land a commodity to be bought and sold, and as such was no longer available for the wider benefit of a plurality of people. It made some people very rich, but reduced others even further into poverty.
In the same way, this documentary makes the point that a similar process is taking place with water around the world. We're not there yet, but in some parts of the world we're well on the way...
