Reclaiming Water Pricing for Participatory Public Services

No one would doubt ‘the principle that water is a scarce good with dimensions of economic efficiency, social equity, and environmental sustainability’. Yet as articulated in the World Bank’s (1996:ix) African Water Resources document, the principle disguises two polar-opposite positions about how to price water. We need to reclaim the pricing of water as a central element in the establishment of a genuinely participatory water service, since ‘getting the prices right ’ is one of the dogmas of the commercialization process. It is a recourse to technical jargon, which leaves many public services advocates infuriated but also helpless against rapid price increases for poor people. What are the two positions? On the one hand, The Economist magazine’s (2003:1-5) survey on water declared the central dilemma: ‘Throughout history, and especially over the past century, it has been ill-governed and, above all, collossally underpriced. ’ Identifying this problem, naturally begets this solution: ‘The best way to deal with water is to price it more sensibly, ’ for ‘although water is special, both its provision and its use will respond to market signals. ’ In rural areas where there is competition among farmers for irrigation water, ‘The best solution is water trading. ’ As for the problem of allocating and delivering water to the poor, ‘The best way of solving it is t