Eugene weekly., March 24, 2016, Page 9, Image 9

NEWS
BY CLAIRE RISCHIOTTO
DIMINISHING
WATER SEEN AS
A HUMAN RIGHT
W
hile Oregon’s drippy March has us all feeling
a little soggy, water isn’t as widely available
as it seems.
A panel at the Public Interest Environ-
mental Law Conference at the University of
Oregon earlier this month explored the privatization of wa-
ter and how it has limited accessibility to this vital resource.
Panelist Justin Woods, an adjunct professor of public ad-
ministration at Pace University in New York, said that water
is a human right. He pointed out that the privatization of
water is a growing trend, and it poses a problem for low-
income families. Woods used the example of Detroit, which
“Our resource is overused
is considering privatizing its
and
inequitably
distributed
water. Because of poor man-
based on availability in terms
agement on the part of Detroit,
of geographic location, access
families had their water shut
to infrastructure, personal and
off if they couldn’t pay their
community economics, and then
water bill on time.
our legal infrastructure in water
“In poor urban areas like in
rights,” Woods said.
Detroit, massive water shut-
He argued that because water
offs happen because of disin-
is a public good, it should “be
vestment and extreme poverty
managed as a resource for public
as a result of our economic
benefit.” This is not always the
system, and now we are shut-
case in the U.S., Woods pointed
ting off water to people who
out. One problem, he said, is that
need it for life,” Woods said.
we are consuming more water
In the U.S., water is defined
than is recharged.
as an usufruct, meaning that as
— J U S T I N W O O D S , PA C E U N I V E R S I T Y
To solve these water rights
U.S. citizens we have the right
issues, Woods said, “We have to
to use water instead of owning
figure out a new way to restruc-
it as a property right. Woods
explained that water is classified in the U.S. as a public ture how we think about water, not as a private property
good, but each state can choose to abide by this principle right, but as a public resource that we can own and man-
age in benefit for the public.” ■
or stray from it.
‘We have to figure out a
new way to restructure
how we think about water,
not as a private property
right, but as a public
resource that we can own
and manage in benefit for
the public.’
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