Water rights are a contentious subject. Our planet is covered in water, yet so much of it is unusable, due to salt content. Some companies, such as Nestlé, have become synonymous with water practices some describe as unethical–but others say is just fair game in capitalism. Now, there’s water theft. What is it? What’s involved? Let’s see.
The Controversy Around Water Theft
The Brookings Institute is a “nonprofit public policy organization based in Washington, DC,” whose “mission is to conduct in-depth research that leads to new ideas for solving problems facing society at the local, national and global level.” They published a report in 2017 on water theft. They contend there are two schools of thought in relation to water rights. Firstly, those who believe water is a basic human right. Then, those who see water as a resource, subject to the capitalist system.
Surprisingly, it is this first group who dislikes the idea of water theft as “real”–although their opposition mostly stems from the idea of those who need water for survival being denied it. Big business rarely “needs” anything. (1)
Baja Water Theft
One man who believes strongly in water theft is Jaime Bonilla, Governor of Baja California, Mexico. Walmart, Coca-Cola, Samsung, Hyundai, and FedEx have been accused by the governor and auditing agency, FisaMex, of underpaying for their use of Mexican water by $49.4 million. They’ve apparently been getting help from inside the water agency. “These businesses have been systematically robbing the people,” says Bonilla. Additionally, the companies have allegedly been illegally draining contaminated water.
Of course, the companies deny wrongdoing. Mostly, they refuse to speak to reporters. Many companies told investigators they weren’t charged for water use before, so they simply weren’t aware they should be paying. “These are multi-million dollar, transnational corporations that are listed on the stock exchange,” Bonilla laments. “And, in Tijuana, they steal water?” (2)
The Damage of Water Theft
2.3 billion gallons of contaminated product–including toxic sludge–poured into the Tijuana River in 2019. That wastewater ends up crossing into U.S. water, especially around San Diego and Southern California. After that, it ends up in the Pacific Ocean. The money that these big companies have allegedly defrauded Baja California of would have gone into bulking up the infrastructure–and hopefully lessening future spills. “It all makes sense now — why the situation deteriorated so quickly,” says Imperial Beach, U.S.A. Mayor Serge Dedina. “Why they never seemed to be able to fix anything. Some of the most powerful, wealthy corporations in the world we now know contributed to our sewage crisis.”
They’ve Been Getting Away
For instance, Hyundai has not paid for water since 2012. “Nothing is installed. There’s no meter, so they have volumes of water coming in, enjoying the free drainage and there’s absolutely no record of them at all at the water agency,” says Bonilla.
“It caught our attention when reviewing the budgets,” said Baja California’s secretary of the public integrity unit, Vincenta Espinoza Martínez. “We saw we were actually spending more than we were bringing in — more than our income was … and some accounts were being charged for very minimum consumption despite being very large companies … to the point where it was illogical.” (2)
