WATER ABLAZE - Patagonia Sin Represas

populations, strengthens the relationship people have with the soil
and its produce, and fosters a natural interest in good quality and
sustainable production. 71
13.7 Which Legal Form Would Be Best-Suited to
Water Supplies
One question frequently asked by citizens’ action groups is: Which
legal form would be the ideal one to govern water supplies
The term privatisation is misleading at first, because it is mostly
used when a public monopoly is transferred to a private one. The term
anonymisation would be more precise when referring to the delivery
of essential public services by large private companies because, other
than their own business interests, these companies have no connection
at all to a town and its inhabitants. The decisive criterion, whenever
the issue of the appropriate legal form is raised, is the actual ownership
itself. If, in the case of a cooperative enterprise, limited company or joint
stock company, the residents of a local community are also the owners,
then this is an ideal state of affairs because people will be interested
in the quality of the water supply and in keeping prices fair. This
aspect should be given top priority and could be practically achieved
by allocating share certificates to local residents. When ownership is
transferred to non-residents, profit-making and speculation interests
overshadow everything else.
Any legal form which places the control of a water supply in the
hands of the local population provides a suitable basis with which
to defend the principles of subsidiarity and solidarity. According to
the subsidiarity principle, all issues must be decided at the level to
which they belong. This means that a water supply must be managed
directly by the local citizens according to the locality principle and not
anonymously from the offices of some remote company. The solidarity
principle guarantees a fair balance of interests because prices can be
235