When corruption is the topic, usually we think of taxes, offshore trusts, and other economic issues, but little attention is given to the water industry. Water is a resource for everyone and the corruption it breeds is not understood as much as it should be, which can be attributed to this issue not having the spotlight other political issues have had. Estimations are that by 2050, there will be in excess of 9 billion people on the planet, and 4 billion of them will be living in areas that are water stressed. While it’s clear that the higher demand for water must be met it is not really clear how that will be achieved.

One method is to invest in international companies so governments can sell the water sector to the public. However, this approach has its own problems such as the inability to supply on what was agreed, which in turn can leave large parts of the population with an unreliable water supply. To raise awareness of the corruption in the water industry the governments need to increase the monitoring of the industry as a whole. More data must be collected so that the levels of transparency are increased, and the organizations or individuals that are not doing what they are supposed to get exposed.

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