Franke, Leslie, and Herdolor Lorenz. Wasser Unterm Hammer. Germany: KernFilm, 2005. 16 mm, 58 min. https://youtu.be/kWWRCZePFkc.
Usually, people only appreciate resources when they become scarce. One great example is water. We simply open the faucet and instantly our most important and most controlled resource flows – reliable, cheap and ready to use. While this is not possible for many around the globe, the problem is not necessarily limited to the ‘developing world.’ After the privatization of England’s water supply in 1989, the maintenance of pipes has become too costly. The dilapidated Victorian-era supply lines tend to burst with regular water pressure, resulting in half of London’s potable water seeping away underground. To counter this, Thames Water (a division of the German energy provider RWE) has lowered the water pressure, resulting in a lack of water supply on higher floors of some buildings. Susanne Baker lives on the fifth floor in London. The first thing she does in the morning is to check if water is flowing out of her faucet. If not, it’s going to be a hassle. Maybe the neighbor on the third or second floor has water? (Source: Adapted from KernFilm)
© 2005 KernFilm Produktion GmbH. Trailer used with permission.
This film is available at the Rachel Carson Center Library (RCC, 4th floor, Leopoldstrasse 11a, 80802 Munich) for on-site viewing only. For more information, please contact library@rcc.lmu.de.
- Bakker, Karen J. “A Political Ecology of Water Privatization.” Studies in Political Economy. 70 (2003): 35-58.
- Budds, Jessica, and Gordon McGranahan. “Are the Debates on Water Privatization Missing the Point? Experiences from Africa, Asia and Latin America.” Environment and Urbanization 15, no. 2 (2003): 87–114.
- Kneitz, Agnes, and Marc Landry, eds. “On Water: Perceptions, Politics, Perils.” Special issue, RCC Perspectives 2 (2012).
