Civil society groups everywhere in Europe are gearing up to fight the European Commission’s new attempts to privatize public water services. Civil society organizations believe this privatization conditionality is “unacceptable” and “seriously undermines the right to water.”
The Netherlands is famous for its water works and -management, but also for its liberal economic climate and that fact that many public services have been privatized. How is the public drinking water supply organised in the Netherlands?
In April last year a new Dutch drinking water law was passed that forbids the privatization of drinking water facilities. According to a specialist, this already was impossible anyway. The drinking water services are all owned by Dutch municipalities and provinces, but they are run as commercial companies. Sounds pretty commercial and privatized, but the specialist underlines that all the shares are in the hands of the authorities, so the drinking water supply stays a public service. The Austrian public TV news program ORF Tagesschau wants to interview a Dutch specialist.
For this production Featurez gave advice, did research to find a specialist for a live news interview.