Courtesy Mark Finco Charging for water has dramatic effects, de Villiers adds, causing usage to decline by about 30 percent. However, as water becomes more expensive, farmers may go out of business or plant more profitable crops. That can reduce a country's ability to feed itself. In cities, water often arrives in a truck, especially on the outskirts of megacities like Jakarta, Bangkok and Mexico City, where water pipes are absent. The World Bank and other international development agencies have spent a lot of money on water supplies, purification systems, wastewater plants and dams.
Money is always short, but even well-funded water projects can fail without good management.
They are some of the worst-run public agencies you can find. One solution, he says, is to put water utilities on a profit-making basis. And while privatization has its critics, it beats not getting water. For poor people in particular, the worst thing is to be denied access. They are happy to pay a reasonable cost, but not if it's going into the pocket of politicians.