The International days of action for Women, Water, Workers and Health will be held on 8 March (International Women’s Day), 22 March (World Water Day) and 7 April (World Health Day). Women and trade unions call for quality public water and health services FOR ALL.

The Asian Water Colloquium met at Chennai, India on 25-27 September 2008 for a preparatory meeting to the World Water Forum Summit scheduled on March next year in Istanbul.

PSI has long advocated public-public partnerships between public water utilities and unions/NGOs. As a result, the concept of water operator partnerships (WOPs) has now entered into the language of the international water family. How can we ensure that unions continue to create the conditions for public-public partnerships, especially when faced with private water companies and their lobbying groups whose profit motive is extremely powerful?

20 August 2008 - PSI has written to the President of the Peruvian public water utility, to protest against the fact that the company is threatening to revoke the accreditation of Luis Isarra Delgado as a trade union representative and therewith his right to time off to perform trade union duties. Luis Isarra, is a very active trade union leader, who has been very vocal in his opposition to the Peruvian government's plans to privatise water services. Now, under pressure from the Peruvian Government, the company is seeking to revoke Luis Isarra's accreditation and has even made an offer to the union to grant 7 new accreditations should the union agree to the withdrawal of Luis Isarra's accreditation. Affiliates are invited to send similar letters of protest.

A union delegation travelled to Huancayo, Peru, where they achieved a public-public partnership between water utilities.

That's just one of the messages on the WASH (Water Sanitation Hygiene) e-card campaign for clean water for all. The campaign aims to draw attention to the water and sanitation crisis. You can help by sending an e-card to government officials responsible for water supply and sanitation, to other stakeholders, and to your colleagues and friends. Take a stand, send a card, save a life!

As more and more communities insist on returning water and wastewater services to public management through remunicipalisation, water multinationals are forced to pull out of services in Latin America, the United States, Africa and Europe. Increased tariffs and a failure to deliver promised improvements have left water multinationals facing increasing opposition.

30 April 2008 - The Johannesburg High Court has ruled that prepaid water meters are unconstitutional and infringe the rights of users.

On 18 March, the Water Pavilion in Paris will host the launch of the Aqua Publica Europea network, the European association for public water management. The network brings together European public water and sanitation operators in order to promote public water management at a European level and beyond.

The campaign message "Women and trade unions call for safe, affordable and efficient water for all" is accompanied by a focus for 2008 on climate change and sustainable development. Please inform us of any activities you are organising for this campaign, which runs from 8 to 22 March 2008.

This report, written by David Hall and Emanuele Lobina from the PSIRU, shows how the international community can support the governments, public insititutions, citizens and workers of developing countries in extending and improving water and sanitation services.

On the occasion of World Water Day on 22 March, PSI has published a report in collaboration with the World Development Movement and PSIRU. Pipe dreams: the failure of the private sector to invest in water services in developing countries presents the Millenium Development Goals (MDGs) for water, and considers whether they will be fulfilled. It reviews actual investment in sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia and East Asia and includes case studies and pertinent financial information.

Many organisations encourage developing countries to privatise water through some form of public-private partnership or private sector participation. The alternative of a public sector water undertaking is ignored, although public sector water undertakings are the providers of water and sanitation services for the great majority of the population in developed countries.

This PSIRU report looks the steps Uruguay and the Netherlands are taking to protect against the risks of water privatisation, and the context in international law.

How the water corporations are adjusting to the threats to their profits, including new support from the World Bank, the United Nations and the European Union

This paper presents an overview of the multinational corporations in water, with a focus on their methods of operation, including corporate collusion, corruption and manipulation of public processes.