Revisiting issues in water management : comparison between Islamic water management and water privatisation

Abstract

Water is a public good and Islam perceives it as such. However, after the emergence of the Dublin Principle in 1992, water is viewed as an economic good, thus it could be owned privately. This principle led private sectors to enter into the water management field and commercialise water resources. The main research question investigated is to find out whether there is any difference between the Islamic water management and current water privatization system. The objective of this paper is to find out and analyze if there is any difference between Islamic water management as it was implemented in the Prophets era and the current water privatization system. The paper concludes that there are some differences between water management in Prophets era and the current water privatization system. Unlike the Prophets era, today water is perceived as economic good. Under water privatization system, water resource could be owned and treated privately and exclusively for profiteering purposes. The access of the poor to the water is restricted by their inability to pay. In pursuit of continuous and increasing profit, over extracting of water has endangered water sustainability. While the use of water in the Prophets era was based on priority with domestic need fulfillment at the top level, under water privatisation the priority of water use is biased towards the sectors that are able to pay for it.