A World Without Water (2006) (TV)

User Rating:

7.2/10   

Director:

Brian Woods

Release Date:

29 April 2006 (UK)

Genre:

Documentary

Runtime:

80 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Fascinating subject and an interesting film but it should have been much better and much better structured

Last month I attended a water conference where a multinational discussed the pressure on it to demonstrate effective water management as they move production into areas of the world where water is a scarcer commodity than in the UK and most of the US. A few weeks later I read a book on a similar theme which detailed the political clashes over dams and water rights and proposed that one day wars would be fought that have water as a key reason for the conflict. Before both these things I had already taped this documentary and was naturally really into the subject when I finally got around to watching it.

At first the film looks good. It looks across the world at water issues in Bolivia, Africa and even Detroit and it debates the failure of the idea that market forces are the way to make sure everyone gets water. It doesn't so much develop this idea as just continually go over it again and again. It is a shame because the subject matter is so important, so depressing and so compelling and complex an issue that it deserves much more depth than this. Of course I say someone for whom water conversation is a daily struggle in a my job, so I suspect that I'm being overly critical because I'm watching from a point of knowledge that perhaps most viewers will not have. In this way it is still compelling because I think most people think that water just comes out of the taps and that is that – this is evidenced by the uproar in the UK at the slightest suggestion that houses would get water meters and pay per unit or that hosepipes to water gardens with drinking water would be banned at the height of summer! The way the film links problems across the developed and undeveloped world is well done but I felt that it "arrived" at its destination within about 10 minutes of starting and the just spent the next 70 driving around on that one point. It is hard to describe the problem but it could have been so much better by going deeper and more complex with the issue. The problems with the structure does make it look a bit unprofessional at times, which is a shame because the contributors are good but they just aren't laid out that well to form one compelling look at the subject.

Overall this is a worthy documentary because I have seen few others on terrestrial television on this subject. It deserves attention because when England (which never seems to go long without miserable rain IMO) has streets in the south working off standpipes then it does make you think what the rest of the world is going through in real drought conditions. Not as good as it should have been but it is still an interesting look at a compelling and important subject.