Uwe Hoering presented a working paper titled "Privatizing the Water Sector" in which the increasing attempts by governments and development agencies to promote the involvement of private industry in the water sector are seen as less of a panacea than is generally assumed. Though privatization proponents claim that privatization is the only way to ensure a safe water supply to the poor, its critics fear the subordination of water issues to financial considerations and the subsequent disempowerment of those most closely concerned.

Water is getting scarcer. Less than two tenths of one percent of water is suitable for drinking. Agriculture is the largest water consumer, claiming 70 percent of water resources, followed by industry (20 percent) and private consumers. More than one billion people have an insufficient water supply, and some two and a half billion have no or insufficient access to sanitary facilities because population growth has outpaced infrastructure capacity. And infrastructure is increasingly becoming a focus for transnational utility concerns because of its profit potential, directly as well as indirectly through speculation and trade options.

Private industry demands extensive structural reforms by governments and local communities as a pre-condition for its involvement in the water sector, yet the benefits of additional investment brought into the communities by the private sector frequently don't materialize.

Local communities may indebt themselves in the long run and bear a disproportionate part of the financial risk without the assurance that additional investment will flow from the private sector. In addition, transnational concerns are showing little interest in investing in areas that do not promise immediate profits, and thus in long-term investing in poorer areas that need it most. Regulatory agencies do not always find it easy to stand up to a powerful private sector, which often selects the choice profitable areas subsidized by governments and development agencies. Less than profitable areas are left to the care of governments and local authorities.

The so-called German model of privatization seeks a development partnership with private industry linking policy goals and environmental protection. Because it also seeks to promote German industry concerns in the world market, it is unlikely, according to German NGOs, to achieve better results.

The NGOs believe that bilateral and multilateral cooperation must shift its focus from the private sector to helping governments and users in developing their own, tailor made solutions to the water problem based on existing institutions, organizations and traditions. This would mean, among other things, coming to terms with the need for subsidies to developing countries for the foreseeable future, increasing transparency and communication on issues related to water, educating the public and giving preference to cost effective and innovative solutions that will not increase dependence on outside money or know how.

Birgit Zimmerle of World Economy Ecology and Development summarized a policy paper by the German NGOs, warning about the increasing scarcity of usable freshwater resources, the overuse and pollution of surface and groundwater and their effect on biodiversity as well as on water users, the increasing violence involved in trying to solve water problems, the proliferation of dams and the massive impact of hydraulic river engineering, and misguided approaches to development.

The paper calls for several measures for the sustainable management of water, including pollution measures and the setting of national and international standards for preserving and restoring the quality of water and water body ecosystems. Not least, it also calls for the worldwide recognition of water as a human right, and urges all societal groups to contribute to the public debate on the subject.