But while Garriga and other Catalans have been suffering water shortages in recent years, there’s one group of people that appears to be immune, and even profits from them: the multinational companies extracting millions of litres of water from the very same land. This isn’t just a Spanish issue – across the world, from Uruguay to Mexico, Canada to the UK, many have begun to question whether private corporations should be allowed to siphon off a vital public resource, then sell it back to citizens as bottled water.
The tragedy in Spain makes the country one of the canaries in the coalmine when it comes to understanding the global threat to water security. Can the growing number of angry citizens surrounded by private water plants but left without safe water in their homes force a rethink of how this resource is managed? And as weather patterns change, should private companies continue to have easy access to vital reserves of underground water?
I can imagine the delivery trucks being held up by locals wanting their water back. The trouble is, the people who work at the plant are the locals - as the article makes clear, some welcome Nestle et al because they want the jobs.
When my neighbor still drives the truck for the company that shot my son for taking an illegal sip of rain water, my neighbor is the enemy and will be judged for his complicity.