Gaining consciousness
about WATER
“Laudato si’, mi’ Signore, per sor Aqua, la quale é multo
utile et humile et pretiosa et casta.”
1224
S. Francesco D’Assisi
03.2009 an Arci proposal
Water for life
”At the beginning of the twenty-first century, the Earth,
with its diverse and abundant life forms, including 6 billion
humans, is facing a water crisis... [which] lies at the heart
of our survival and that of our planet Earth.”
United Nations World Water Development Report
70 % of the Earth’s surface is covered by water
only 2,5 % of this is fresh water
and much less is clean, available, drinkable water
its current main use is industrial agriculture
Can SOCIETY and NATURE be divided ?
TEACHING LINKS:
foreign languages → numbers & percentage, vocabulary, comparisons...
geography, social studies, maths
science → pollution, climate change
life skills
Is there enough water for everybody in the world?
Yes
, according to
scientists, the United
Nations, universities, social
movements, and even
corporations!
what’s the
matter then?
unequal distribution, bad management and
unfair access to water
Teaching links: I
CARE
- don L.Milani
just a basic need?
managing a unique resource
2 global trends:
1 public:
water as a fundamental
right of every human being, it cannot be
used for profit
2 Privatize it : water considered as
a commodity or a service, assimilated to
sewage and sanitation, the more is
consumed the better it is for the business
Schools dealing with too delicate social issues?
DO EDUCATORS TAKE A STAND ABOUT
CHALLENGES CONCERNING HUMANITY ?
empathy, problem solving, decision making, critical ability...
CASE STUDIES ANALYSIS: Paris, Lombardia, Mumbai, Argentina...
Life skills :
economy, law, foreign languages, geography
2 famous examples:
COCHABAMBA (Bolivia - South America):
 water distribution was privatized by Aguas del Tunari (Bechtel...)
 prices soared up to 250 %
 popular revolt (1 young dead)
 2-month road blocks and unrest
 2000: the corporations withdrew
but they asked the government
for 25 million $ as compensation
for missed profits
LATINA (Italia - ATO2 Campania) :
 concessionaria Acqualatina spa, società mista (Veolia)
 7000 ricorsi per aumenti e mancati investimenti [ lawsuits ]
 bills have soared up to 300 % but no investments have been
made to repair or improve the aqueducts
 ongoing protests
...and many more struggle around the world...
...and in Trentino?
the context: national law → legge Galli 1994 → full cost recovery → 2002
BUT: legge 133 Tremonti – 06.08.2008 – art. 23bis :
- i comuni metteranno le loro reti idriche sul mercato entro il 2010 – “favorire la più
ampia diffusione dei principi di concorrenza e di libera prestazione dei servizi di tutti gli
operatori economici interessati alla gestione di servizi di interesse generale in ambito
locale".
the new law obliges municipalities to
create joint-stock /incorporated companies
and to put out contracts to tender
 it depends on the municipality
present situation: there are many
public companies often called
“multiutilities”. How are they
managed and controlled?
and what about the merger between
Dolomiti Energia & Trentino Servizi?
80 % of the “market share” - 700 billion € a year
teaching links:
economics,
Italian...
law,
all over Italy there are various campaigns
and a new law has been recently proposed:
July 2007: 406.626 signatures are delivered, necessary to support
legge d’iniziativa popolare called
“Principi per la tutela, il governo e la gestione pubblica
delle acque e disposizioni
per la ripubblicizzazione del servizio idrico”
the discussion started 22.01.2009
the proposal of a
another example:
promoting good
quality tap water at
home and most of all
in restaurants
teaching ideas:
what would you make a social campaign about? why? how?
Water in Trentino
Civilization developed thanks to water...
 Lake Ledro: prehistoric pile-dwelling
the region’s most important ecosystems:
lakes, rivers, streams, glaciers, sources, snow,
ground water tables, ponds, moors...
just 10% of Trentino’s rivers are unspoilt
BIM i.e. mountain river basins: an institutional
attempt to grant a sustainable future?
ECONOMICAL ACTIVITIES OF THE REGION
DEPENDING ON WATER: SKI, AGRICULTURE,
TOURISM, TROUT BREEDING, POWER PLANTS...
Teaching links: history, science, economy, ways of
improving use of water: more effective
irrigation systems, less artificial snow...
Water in Trentino: European connections
The Alps
Adige and Brenta contributing to the Adriatic Sea
Drava and the Donau’s drainage basin
hydrographically linking Trentino
with Hungary and Mitteleuropa
teaching links: overcoming an ethnocentric approach to matters
CONNECTING GLOBAL TO LOCAL
What could each of us do?
promoting and witnessing a personal choice and commitment
SAVING WATER IN OUR DAILY LIFE :
how?
teaching links:
 foreign languages:
vocabulary: house,
domestic appliances,
items, waste...
grammar: should,
modals, wh-questions,
relative clauses...
maths:
problems at all levels
BOTTLED WATER
a profit for whom?
 market survey: mostly corporations, checks...
 advantages and disadvantages
COMPARISON with TAP WATER
Italy: one of the biggest consumers of bottled water in the world
TEACHING PROPOSALS:
chemistry: getting to understand the labels
English: the Coca Cola case in Kerala - India
marketing: the spread of functional goods
law and economy: canone di concessione da Regio Decreto 1927
DAMS - DIGHE
just an important source of energy ?
discovering and
managing social
and
environmental
impacts
► Vajont - Italy
► Stava - Trentino
► Ilisu - Turkey
► Sardar Samovar - Narmada river (central India)
water and peace
 Israel and Palestine
 Mekong
 Sudan and Ethiopia
 Syria - Turkey - Irak ...
didactic prompts:
history: water as battlefield, as
barrier, as border, as negotiation
area...
English literature: the role played
by the fleet and the East India
Company in the British Empire...
...there are many more ways to address the
social and cultural matters concerning WATER...
please
share
yours…
...thank you for your attention!