Stand with communities in India against water privatization

Water is our most essential public resource, and it is vital that it be managed by public utilities for the public interest, not private profit. The World Bank continues to promote and fund water privatization despite the failure of this model around the globe, in cities from Nagpur to Manila, Cochabamba to Paris. For years, the World Bank has promoted corporate interests at the expense of human rights, workers' rights, public health, the planet, and democratic principles.

Now, the public-private partnership model in Nagpur -- which the World Bank was instrumental in establishing and promoting -- is being used as the model for expansion to hundreds of other cities across India. This is extremely dangerous because the Nagpur model has been fraught with many well-documented problems, including price hikes, water shut-offs, delays, multiple breaches of contract, allegations of corruption, and exploitation of workers. If plans remain on course, this failed model will be replicated all over India, with terrible results for people, public health, development, and democracy itself.

We stand in solidarity with communities in Nagpur, India who are challenging the disastrous water privatization project in their city. And we stand with people across India demanding an end to the World Bank-supported plan to roll out the failed Nagpur model to hundreds of Indian cities.

We demand the World Bank end its promotion and financial support of all forms of water privatization and acknowledge the failures behind its glossy public relations. We stand in solidarity with people in Nagpur and across India demanding water for life, not for profit, now!