Cities and Natural Resources in an Urban World:
The Political Development of Water Privatization
Paper prepared for delivery at the Annual Meeting of the American Political Science
Association, Chicago, IL, September 2-5, 2004
Richardson Dilworth, Drexel University (## email not listed ##)
When man made his first appearance on earth there were no
property rights in existence; at that time everything was on the free list.
But man soon began to preempt the earth’s surface and then claim title by
right of possession, and as he increased in numbers extending his claims
until, not only the earth’s surface was claimed, but he claimed title to all of
the mineral within and the animals and structures upon the earth until there
were but two objects left on the free list; they being the essentials of life,
AIR and WATER; and while those two articles remain on the free list, it
must be distinctly understood that the free list only includes them in their
natural location and in their undisturbed condition, notwithstanding the
adverse opinions that many patrons on the various water lines seem to
cling to when they have their water bills to pay.
--W .A. Patton, “At What Rate can Water be Profitably Sold when
Pumped Against a 300-foot Head?” Proceedings of the Twenty Fourth
Annual Convention of the American Water Works Association, St. Louis,
MO, June 6-10, 1904.
It is by now commonplace to note that water is going to be one of the most
important social and political issues of the 21
st
century. Much of the politics of water
stems from the collective action dilemmas inherent in a common pool resource, where
non-excludability results in overuse and abuse.
1
In terms of policy prescriptions, the
common-pool nature of water resources also represents the two horns of a dilemma. On
the one hand, abuse and overuse suggests that water should be more perfectly privatized,
so that users pay the full cost for water, and consume only what they need.
2
On the other
hand, water is not only a common pool resource, but a substance vital to life; and
privatization, as it seeks to perfect excludability for the sake of profit, threatens the
Page 1 of 19 
Convention