* Privatization of water supplies began in England in 1989 under Margaret Thatcher; in the ten years that followed, nearly 10 billion went in profits to the new water companies.

* Today, two giant corporations, Veolia and Suez, control 80% of the international private water market and have some 300 million customers.

* Protests have broken out in developing country after country - Bolivia, Argentina, Ghana, South Africa. The water giants are switching to new markets in China, North America and Europe. Meanwhile well over a billion people still lack access to clean water supplies.

This book tells the graphic story behind these facts and figures. The author travels Latin America, Africa and Europe to find out what actually happened. She interviews the poor, the experts, the corporate executives and bring us a story much more complicated that simply public versus private provision, or innovative mixes of the two. The ultimate question is this: should water be something which we as citizens in democratic societies should decide on the provision of and access to, or the commercial corporations? Is water a human right or just another tradeable commodity?