Water crisis, a ukrainian trade unionist's from Kryvyi Rih initiative
The Network
Good afternoon I am Yuri Samoilov, chairman of the independent miners' trade union in the city of Krivyi Rih. I would like to talk about ecology. The destruction of the Kakhovka hydroelectric power station by the Russian occupiers made the provision of simple drinking water a big problem for workers. Drinking water in the city is actually not free, you can only buy it in stores.
In general, there was a problem with water before. In Krivyi Rih, water has always not been of very good quality, because active mining and mineral extraction are carried out here. The depth of the work that is currently underway is at a depth of about two kilometers, because all the other water has gone, pumped out and turned into some kind of chemical compounds.
Our project of solution
We see a solution to the problem in extracting water from deep wells.
Capitalists and their power are not very concerned about this matter; they look at water supply through the prism of their interests and profit. They make a business out of selling bottled water to those who can pay. It's their decision. They also want to turn drilling wells and water distribution into a business. They will turn any water supply project into their profits. The position of the working class of Krivyi Rih, all ordinary people, is that water should not be turned into a commodity. Water is a common good.
It is necessary to start drilling wells, and they should belong to the people, not private individuals. This will determine the nature of the project.
There are several components to this project.
For example, the technical component is the purchase of equipment, namely raising funds for a drilling rig and components. To operate wells, a pump and backup autonomous electricity are required. There are a lot of such technical details, and we will think through them all.
There are also organizational issues. Who will drill, how the work itself will be carried out. We see that this will be a voluntary well-drilling team, which, through cooperation, should receive clean water itself in gratitude.
With proper organization with one drilling rig, it is possible to drill and equip at least one or several wells at once. Clean water, like air, cannot be sold.
Clean water should be free and accessible to everyone. The project should work free of charge.
The mass consciousness problem will also be solved: we need to explain to people that not only air and water should be free.
Today, all basic products are produced in sufficient quantities for everyone. And providing people with food, clean water, heat, food products, and basic medicine is no longer a problem today.
Not only water, but all these basic goods can and should be free, as the right of any person.
The state, government and capitalists do not want to ensure this and, by their class nature, cannot.
They want water to be a commodity. They live by trading in all possible benefits. If this policy continues, our descendants will have to decide where to get oxygen, because it will be paid.
Only the organized working class can provide everyone with basic goods.
There is also a legal issue to this. Because the legalization of production within the Ukrainian state makes it very problematic to take away water and drill wells. But the Constitution of Ukraine declares that the mineral resources belong to the people, and that everyone has the right to a decent life.
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