Washington, DC

Maude Barlow and Tony Clarke's "Who Owns Water?" [Sept. 2/9] is a reminder that fresh water is rapidly becoming a commodity--and no longer an inalienable human right. Corporate interests, assisted by governments and free-trade agreements, are privatizing water distribution worldwide, and companies that get in on the ground level of this Ponzi scheme will be the Standard Oils and Gettys of our generation.

In Michigan, we are seeing the "Who Owns Water?" debate play out in Mecosta Township. The Perrier/Ice Mountain water-bottling company has secured a permit to pump up to 576,000 gallons of spring water per day out of the Great Lakes Basin. In September 2000, Governor John Engler's own former special adviser for strategic initiatives and current US chairman of the International Joint Commission, Dennis Schornack, wrote the governor a "conscience-clearing" memo saying that the use of state funds to help Perrier build a bottling facility in Michigan would be a political liability. The memo pointed out that Perrier stands to clear up to $1.8 million per day from this free resource. But the governor's support of Perrier hasn't been nearly enough of a political liability. We must turn up the heat. If we don't, more and more bottling plants will be permitted. Our lake levels are low, and families and farmers who rely on well water are having difficulties. The Perrier plant is setting a dangerous precedent.

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