The Chairwoman of the plenary session, Uschi Eid, secretary of the German economic cooperation ministry, set the goal by saying that after Monday's opening general remarks delegates had to get down to business and set strategy.

"We all know the facts," she said. "What is needed now is action."

Debate in the circular auditorium at the Bundeshaus, the former German federal parliament, packed with official government delegates and representatives of nongovernmental organizations, labor, women's groups, local authorities, and business and industry, centered on the roles of government and private industry.

David Boys of Public Services International a union organization he said represents 20 million workers in 150 countries, argued caution in the use of private companies to supply water. He said "water is a natural monopoly and the markets are captive markets."

He accused private corporations of "manipulation of profits and draining water profits out of countries."

He cited what he said were examples of private water companies who used water profits from poor countries to subsidize purchases in unrelated fields, and when the subsidiaries ran into trouble laid the loss burden on the water projects.

"Corporations don't exist to serve the poor. " He said" this cannot be business as usual. " Answering quickly Gerard Payen the director of Suez, an international water company, said" corporations are interested in serving the poor. "

Payen said of the one million people receiving water from his company in Manila, 300,000 are shantytown dwellers who did not have it before; that "corruption is the scourge of the water sector" and his company fights it every day, and that conference participants should ²stop posing public against private sectors."

"The people are waiting for water," he said.

Albert Fry of the world Business Council for Sustainable Development said he and at least five of his business-oriented colleagues at the convention "will certainly have a lot to say in the conference workshops and we are itching to respond" to claims such as Boys'. "The crux is that users ultimately have to pay. Since we are worrying about the poor people it becomes a matter of allocation. And then it becomes a mater of raising outside development assistance. "But you can't get there from here with outside development assistance. We must raise capacity," he said. "But this is not a public verses private argument. It is an efficient verses inefficient argument. People will pay a price for fresh water. What is needed is a dialogue, even with labor unions, who don't seem to like us very much. "

George Carpenter of the Proctor and Gamble corporation, in arguing for private enterprise, said 'we cannot do it alone."

"Governments need to create an enabling environment," he aid. We need basic law that is both flexible, and in force," he said.

Jim Oatridge of Severn Trent, a British utility, said the conference was bogged down in a "myth" of an argument over ownership of water. Water, he, said should certainly be in the public domain, but that private companies should be brought in -- "only by request" -- to work on training development, management, technology transfer, and other areas where their skills may be greater than those in a given country.

Oatridge told Conference News Daily that with 1.2 billion persons without access to safe water, "the existing models are failing society."

Peter Dafov a labor representative from Bulgaria suggested the conference set up a body to monitor land control water prices internationally. He said that privatization in Eastern Europe had caused "havoc" and layoffs on a large scale.

Speaking briefly with Conference News Daily after his remarks Boys said that "privatization" had become a disruptive term, but "so we don't use it any more." "Now we call it partnership," he said. "It is the same thing."

He said that foreign, private companies did not really invest in poorer countries, but simply used available outside funding from development agents.

"A typical water project will bring in only about five per cent the capital from the private company," he said.

A representative of Namibia made a distinction between privatization and commercialization, claiming that in his country the government commercializes water, selling it to those who can afford to pay but providing it for free to those who cannot. A delegate from Bangladesh said large scale dams were a necessity in his country, where "we have too much water at some times, and too little at others." Anne Weir, of Unilever, a multinational corporation, said "Effective governance is vital to business investment," she said.

She called for "more emphasis on setting internal targets and goals. "

"Clear and practical intentions will attract business investment" she said.

Cesar Gutierrez Cascante of Mesa Nacional Campesina of Costa Rica, said the farmers of the world "see a the state as the guarantor of water resources."

"Set prices should be put into code, and a long-term strategies announced?" he said, to enable farmers to be able to depend over the long run on government and water policies. And these set prices should take into consideration the size and kinds of farms and the ability of the farmers to pay."

"And as research is an important role in water, irrigation and drainage technology, it should be directed by pubic authorities and not left in the hands of multinational corporations."

Kaarin Taipale of Finland, representing local governments said, "Flexibility is need in the approach to all water issues."

"Local governments will never run out of water problems, and what we need are procedures that are participatory and therefore can continue to go on over the long run," she said.

Later Taipale told Conference News Daily that "the very participation of local government representatives in the Bonn water conference "was the event itself, -- it was a major achievement."

Dr. Marcella de Souza of the Watershed Development Trust in India speaking for the nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) said, "water resources management should be participatory and the decisions should be made at the lowest possible level."

"Water should be kept out of international trade negotiations," she said.

"Whilst we support partnership of various kinds, we strongly believe that partnerships should not be imposed, and partnership should not be a conditionality of external financing," she said. "Small scale decentralized approaches should be prioritized. Large scale infrastructure, such as large dams and long distance pipelines should be a last resort," she said.

The delegate from Iraq said that in his country the largest use of water is for agriculture, and "selling and pricing water would mean the large scale use of monitoring systems and observers which wouldn't be practical and it would mean k, in the end, the reduction of farm income."

"Therefore," he said, "selling water is not advisable."

Fr. Frank J Dewane, a repetitive from the Vatican said he found the provision of water was an ethical issue, which simply put is "doing what is doing what we ought to do. " And that, he said, meant providing water "regardless of cost effectiveness, but because it must de done."

Patrick McCuly of the International River Network, said he spoke on behalf of NGOs when he accepted a French suggestion of a new stake holders review not only of what was going on at the present conference, but to monitor stakeholder interests at Johannesburg.

Danielle Morley of the UN Environmental Development forum, an NGO which helped in the coordination of the water conference said " I would like to compliment the Germans (hosts) in the bold step they took in opening the process here for the NGOs and other stakeholders."

"These used to be very dull meetings of government people" she said "now they actually have the stakeholders involved. They are to be congratulated. "