Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Good day, gentlemen.
Unfortunately, due to circumstances beyond my control, I wasn't able to familiarize myself with this publication prior to arriving here. However, I find it quite fascinating. What struck me from the very first was the title: Freshwater for the Future. The words bring to mind development, economic growth, and so forth. Perhaps I would have preferred to see the words “vital resource and life source”. That's what comes to my mind when I hear the word water.
You quoted some impressive statistics on water usage. Water withdrawal is measured in cubic metres. Municipalities withdraw 4 million cubic metres, whereas the figure is 28 million cubic meters for thermal power generation. Other statistics for other sectors are equally impressive. Even the agricultural sector does not use as much water as municipalities do.
Still according to your notes, we read that less than 3 per cent of the water treated by municipal water treatment plants is technically for consumption, or drinking, purposes. We see that the actual amount of water consumed, percentage wise, is minimal compared to water usage in other spheres of activity. All of which leads me to think that water has increasingly become a market commodity. I'm wondering -- and I hope I'm wrong -- if all of the efforts to protect the resource are in fact being made so that this resource can be marketed. As we all know, water is a protected resource and cannot be exported in bulk. However, if things continue as they are, will outside pressure ultimately result in governments, or the principal stakeholders, viewing water as a highly lucrative commodity?