During the Spring Semester of 2010, LUC's CUERP hosted its first Colloquium on issues related to water privatization and the bottled water industry.  To Colloquium was co-sponsored by LUC's Office of the President, Center for the Human Rights of Children, and the Student Environmental Alliance.

The Water Issue

Privatization of water and the growing bottled water industry have inadvertently led to complex issues of human rights, social, legal, environmental, ethical, political and economic concern regarding access to clean water.  The issues have led to violent conflicts over water in developing countries where the privatization of water is being contested. 

For example, in the Western United States, struggles over who has the right to how much water from the Colorado River have caused the river to be completely depleted in the Sonoran Desert, being dry by the time it reaches Mexico.  On the Gaza Strip, where water is becoming even more scarce, Israel owns the water rights and will not allow Palestinian farmers to dig deeper to obtain water to irrigate their crops and water their cattle.  In Yemen, 1 out of 3 people do not have access to fresh drinking water, and this number is expected to rise to 2 out of 3 by 2025.  In Afghanistan and Pakistan there are struggles over rivers that cross the border; India plays a role in that it has put large financial investments into Pakistan to dam their rivers, stopping the flow to Afghanistan.  Water is a big issue.

The LUC Connection

LUC students demonstrated their concerns about the bottled water industry and privatization of water, and how these activities exploit communities in developing countries.  Concerns included the plastic water bottles contributing to the increasingly large island of plastic floating in the Atlantic Ocean.

CUERP collaborated with the Loyola Office of Mission and Identity to conduct a week-long series of events on all 3 Chicago campuses to raise awareness of these issues, “the Water Colloquium”.

The right for all humans to have access to clean drinking water is an interdisciplinary concern, calling upon the natural and social sciences, the humanities, and the schools of business, communications, law and medicine.

The colloquium on water challenged people to examine the choices and behaviors they engage in every day, which ultimately and disproportionately impact the financial, social and physical well-being of the poor, the health of the planet, the availability of natural resources for future generations, and the common good.  

CUERP and its partners across the University, organized a series of thoughtful discussions designed to provide enriching academic and transformational experiences for the entire Loyola community. Our goal was to transform people’s way of thinking about how they use water.  All Loyolans and neighbors were welcomed to engage in honest inquiry and invited to participate in our dialogue.

Schedule of Events

Outcomes of the colloquium

Students played important leadership roles in the colloquium.  In addition to participation at events noted in the schedule, which were attended by students, faculty, staff and the general public, the depth of student engagement with the issues by student leaders was a significant outcome of the event.  Also, those who participated were outside the usual crowd of CUERP students.

For example, five water taste testing tabling events engaged over 90 people.  Over 75 LUMC students attended a Tapped screening.  More than 25 students in an art class watched Flow and Tapped to then created sculptures for the colloquium. Two students became experts on the issue and 10 administrators watched a mini version of Flow.  20 students created "teasers" for Blue Gold and Tapped, extending the colloquium’s reach to more than 430 people!