Written by Maude Barlow, Tony Clarke, and Samuel Vartek
Directed by Samuel Vartek

Before getting into the crux of this film, I have to say that within the context of it, I’ve heard a statement that better describes the problems in the world better than I’ve ever heard before: “We’ve created an economic system where there are winners and losers, and who cares about the losers because they are losers and it’s their own fault anyway…”

I didn’t know much about the issue of water before I moved to an area where Nestle is extracting Poland Spring water.  After hearing about the issue first-hand and how people of every political persuasion are concerned about what’s happening because of what they are doing, it’s become an issue I’ve made it a point to learn as much as I can about and try to help other understand why the privatization of our water supply is a bad thing.

The documentary Blue Gold: World Water Wars is a stab at the issue by filmmaker Sam Bozzo.  It’s based on the book Blue Gold: The Fight to Stop the Corporate Theft of the World’s Water and narrated by Malcolm McDowell.  It poses the issue that there’s a grab going on right now for control of the water supply and that this will be the cause of future conflicts in the world, much the same way oil is right now.

Historically, there is some precedence for this opinion.  The film illustrates on theory on how the Mayan culture disappeared due to the water drying up and their taking to the jungle in search of a sustainable supply – which there wasn’t.

In our modern times, it would seem to be much more straightforward than that.  Those who can pay will have water and those who can’t won’t.

Water is something that most of us don’t think about when we turn on the tap until we live in an area that experiences a drought, or we travel on vacation and turn on the shower to be overpowered by the smell of chlorine.  This seems to concur with the film’s allegation that the cycle of water being returned to the Earth isn’t functioning.  Why is that?

Only 3% of the Earth’s water is freshwater, the rest is salt water.  Of that 3%, an incredible amount is already polluted and more and more is being polluted daily.  Part of the reason is agricultural, between the pesticides, insecticides, and agricultural waste.  There is also pollution from our motor vehicle emissions.  Industry is by far, though, the worst culprit.

With the outcry many people have sounded over just the suspicion that there’s a link between autism and vaccines, what would happen if it were proven that there was a link between water pollution and many other diseases?  Water pollution is said to be linked to higher miscarriage rates in women, lower sperm counts in men, and much more.  I have always felt that pollution in our environment is much more of a factor in the rise in autism.  Do the industries contributing to these pollution levels have a vested interest in keeping the public ignorant so they can keep polluting instead of spending money on preventative measures?

Some countries have taken action.  In Malaysia, for instance, you can be given the death penalty if you are caught contaminating the water.  While the reflex here might be to say that’s a good thing, what defines “contaminating” the water in Malaysia?

This illustrates the one problem with the film.  While Blue Gold: World Water Wars does good in sounding the alarm and raising awareness of this issue, there’s a problem substantiating the claims it makes.  Where is the research from? It seems to throw stuff out there but doesn’t really back it up.  Perhaps these questions are answered in the book, and I’d recommend people interested in the issue pick up that and other books on the subject rather than relying on a single source for information.

The documentary interviews various people who come in contact with some of the water sources that are polluted the worst in the world.  There are many “experts” who have degrees in the various environmental sciences who are sounding the warning about the water supply.

The film is organized quite well in that it first sets up the overall problem and then shows how the easy solutions aren’t always that easy because of reasons such as politics.  Many people receive kickbacks in return for relaxing water regulations in local communities or signing over a water system that had been working fine as a municipal function to a private corporation. In every instance, water rates go up.  In Mexico, Former President Vicente Fox was a general manager for Coca-Cola before being elected President.  Once he was in office, Coca-Cola received generous water concessions.

Blue Gold: World Water Wars brings up the battle Nestle has faced in Wisconsin.  I’m always disappointed when they don’t follow the story of Fryeburg, Maine, but it’s basically the same story in that the people of the town don’t have the right to prevent this corporation from pumping water out of the ground, no matter how it affects the local water table.

There are not a lot of extras on the disc, just some deleted scenes which really don’t add that much to the film as well as an interview with the filmmaker.  I would have liked to have seen more depth and more solutions other than the reflex of corporations are evil.  Anyone who researches the issue of privatization of the water supply can find plenty of resources from municipalities who regret the decision and learn that it’s not the sunshine and roses the corporations led them to believe it would be.

Finally, near the end, they brought up Fryeburg Maine.  In an effort to court the goodwill of the local townsfolk, Nestle/Poland Spring gave away a case of Poland Spring Water to the first 50 people who came into their offices in Fryeburg.  Led by a local (Republican) business owner, they took the water and poured it into Lovell’s Pond, back to where the water had been pumped out from under.  There has been a change in the content of the water in the pond since Nestle began pumping this water and running their tanker trucks full of it through the local towns daily.  Of course, they deny that their pumping has had anything to do with changes noted by the locals.

Perhaps you don’t care as long as you can go to the supermarket and purchase bottles of Poland Spring water. Perhaps people really don’t care unless it’s happening to them.  The point is, this will be happening to all of us sooner or later unless people begin saying there are some resources on this planet that should only be controlled on a not-for-profit basis.  It would seem to be a no-brainer that water and air are among those resources and Blue Gold: World Water Wars sets up the issue pretty well.  The problem is that it doesn’t do much other than point fingers at corporations to present ways to solve the upcoming crisis.


SPECIAL FEATURES:

• Filmmaker Interview
• Deleted Scenes