Water Policies and Public Service

There are two main different views on water resources. The first one argues that these resources are a vital resource belonging to all humanity and should be treated as a natural resource with social value, not as an economic and commercial commodity. The other is the neo-liberal view that water can be traded as a necessity rather than a right. Water resources (especially water services management), which are increasingly under pressure from rapid population growth, migration to cities, pollution and climate change, have been in the commercial interest and investment area of companies with global power for the last 25 years.

Nevertheless, due to the nature of the business, the commercial targets set by international companies for this service have not been met. Currently, drinking water, agricultural irrigation, industrial water services are largely within the important duties of the state and these services are called public services. Today, 99% of water services in Asian countries, 97% in Africa, 96% in Central and Eastern Europe and South America, 95% in North America and 80% in Western European countries are carried out by public institutions with various management models.

What is a Public Service?

There are different definitions of what a public service is. The Constitutional Court defines this concept within the social state concept as follows;

In the decision of the Court dated 28.06.1995 and numbered 1994/71E.1995/23, it is stated that "According to the broadest definition, public service is the continuous and regular activities carried out by the state or other public legal entities or under their supervision and control in order to meet the needs in general, to ensure public benefit or interest and offered to the society". 

In addition to the definition given above, public service is also legally defined as "activities carried out to meet a general and collective need that arises at a certain time and place and that must be satisfied in a continuous and regular manner"

In this context, if we look at the water supply service, it emerges that it is a need that needs to be met continuously and regularly and has general and collective characteristics. Since this service is vital, it must also be met continuously and regularly. Otherwise, human life and public health are jeopardized. In addition, since water is a social need, this service has general and collective characteristics. Because there is no alternative such as providing water service to regional, personal, local, etc. segments and not providing it to others.

In this case, "water services" constitute a good example of a public service.

Social State and Water Service 

It is clear that the water supply service is a public service under the above definition. However, this service is also a "legal" public service within the scope of the above legal definition. This is mainly because the boundaries of public service are flexible. In other words, it is open to expansion and contraction. These boundaries are only quite broad within the framework of the definition of the Social State.

They become narrower as one moves away from the social state approach. Therefore, the determination of whether a service is a public service is political rather than a legal or technical issue. It is therefore determined by the legislature. Water services can only be provided as a public service by local governments that treat municipal services "politically with a social service approach". The alternative is the privatization of water services management and the commercialization of water.

The Political Importance of "Water" 

Water, which is the basis of life and civilization, has been a strategic substance throughout history, and therefore has always maintained its political importance. In other words, we can see water policies as policies that shape the future. The unequal distribution of water on earth, the fact that the amount of fresh water falling on the earth through the hydrological cycle remains the same despite the increasing population and the need for water, and even the regional pollution of this water due to reasons such as environmental pollution and climate change keep this issue constantly on the agenda. 

Since the mid-1980s, globalization policies have not been indifferent to meeting the increasing demand for water commercially. Especially when it was realized that the total size of this market was 1 trillion dollars, interest increased even more and new policies adopting water as an economic good started to be implemented as of the second half of the 1990s. In fact, various legal and institutional arrangements on the way to this result have started to be realized in many countries since the early 1980s.

This process accelerated with the adoption of water as an 'economic good' at the Dublin World Conference on Water and Environment in 1992. These steps were followed by other international policy-making and implementation steps. In this period, water resources became economically commercialized, globally politicized as water management and strategically internationalized.

In underdeveloped countries where neo-liberal policies have been implemented in the water sector, the problem of access to water has increased. This problem has emerged as a decline in the quality of the service and the problem of being able to pay the increasing price. This situation has made water resources and water services increasingly the center of political attention in recent times.

In fact, when talking about the political importance of water, it can be said that the national and international water management policy of a country is directly affected by the general government policy of that country. Therefore, the political and strategic importance of water in domestic and foreign policy has always been taken into consideration by those in power. Recently, a new dimension of importance has been added to this importance created by the national and international commercialization of water.

Hydropolitics 

In the last quarter of the second half of the 20th century, water became a strategic natural resource as well as a commercialized one. This has also led to the internationalization of water policies. Since the early 20th century, problems have started to emerge regarding the allocation, sharing or joint use of international or transboundary ground and surface water resources. These developments gave rise to a new international policy concept and discipline called "Hydropolitics".

In summary, we can define hydropolitics as "policies aimed at taking socio-economic, political and legal measures for the utilization of water by evaluating the interest relations arising from the use of water resources between countries". However, in recent years, hydropolitics has been addressed not only between countries but also within countries as policies aimed at solving water problems between cities and states. 

Political Economy of Water

Due to the increasing global policies on water, the importance of issues such as whether water can only be considered as an economic commodity or how it should be priced has increased. In addition, the use of water as a basic input in many sectors of national economies and the increasing interrelationships between water-energy-food and the environment have increased the importance of water for the development and national security of countries.

In this case, water resources management has become a factor that directly affects economic growth and development. Especially in developing countries, water plays an important role in ensuring sustainable development and combating poverty. For example, in many developing countries, the increase in income from the agricultural sector is an important tool in the fight against poverty. This is because, in addition to its vital importance, water is one of the most important inputs for almost every production activity.

Bibliography: 

Yıldız D. Özbay Ö. (2012) "Osmanlıdan Bugüne Su Politikaları ve Su Hukuku" Truva Yayınları. Istanbul