For centuries, water has been considered a common good: a vital natural resource, essential to life, accessible to all, and outside the realm of commerce. This principle was enshrined in international law in 2010, when the UN recognized access to safe drinking water as a fundamental human right.
But today, faced with resource scarcity, demographic pressure, and economic drift, a critical question arises: Is water still managed as a common good?
A Resource under pressure
Freshwater accounts for only about 2.5% of all water on Earth. And that share is shrinking as droughts intensify, pollution rises, industrial agriculture expands, and uncontrolled urbanization spreads.
In coastal areas especially, the strain is growing: overexploited aquifers, saltwater intrusion, competing uses. Water is becoming rare, contested, and increasingly vulnerable.
From public service to market logic
In many countries, water management has shifted toward concessions — even commodification. Outsourcing to private operators, financialization of water networks, and pricing strategies disconnected from local realities raise serious governance issues.
In some cases, water access rights are even traded on stock markets. The risk? That access to water is no longer guided by vital needs, but by profit-driven logic.
What’s the alternative?
At Seawards, we believe it’s time to change scale, method, and technology.
Our answer is clear:
- a circular desalination technology
- decentralized, for local production
- chemical-free, to reduce environmental impact
- designed to serve communities, close to where needs are greatest
This model is not about turning water into a product – it’s about ensuring sustainable access by regenerating water where it’s lacking.
Taking back control
Reopening the debate on the status of water means asking fundamental questions:
Who produces it? Who controls it? Who decides how it’s used – and at what social and ecological cost?
The answers are already out there. What’s needed now is action on the ground.
That’s exactly what we’re doing at Seawards: delivering a concrete solution to a political question.
Because yes – water is a common good.
And it must remain one.
