This past weekend at The Crest theater, the Environmental Council of Sacramento, or ECOS, hosted a special screening of an incredible film called FLOW: For Love of Water. The film was directed by Irena Salina and has won a slew of awards including Best Documentary at the United Nations Association Film Festival and was an official selection at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival. One of the executive producers for the film is Stephen Nemeth, who also produced Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, Why Do Fools Fall in Love and Dogtown and Z-boys among others.

The film discusses the current worldwide water crisis as well as the issue of water privatization. The engaging narrative, which characterizes the film, effectively captivates the viewer by appealing to both their intellect and their innate sense of what is right. One of the key questions that Salina addresses is water ownership. Can anyone really own the water supply? Water - the ultimate source of life - is being transformed into a commodity to which only the people who can afford to buy it have access. Images and stories from around the world, particularly in the poorest regions of the world, expose the tremendous threat that all humans, and all life for that matter, are facing in the 21st century.

I was struck in particular by the scenes in Bolivia and South Africa. FLOW shows how the poorest people in the world are being exploited by the water industry and their executives. Two of the major water corporations that had the misfortune of being discussed in the Film are Suez and Vivendi Water. The projects of both corporations act independently to demonstrate the questionable ethics of their business, but officials also managed to be caught on camera with their feet in their mouths. One official even said, "People should want to pay [for their water]." When the customers they speak of are so poor that they are forced to drink contaminated river water, resulting in thousands of infant and toddler deaths each years, that statement is ill advised at best.

FLOW does not only deal with the effects of the water crisis in developing countries and poor communities. In perhaps the most effective argument in appealing to American viewers, FLOW addresses the issue of water in the United States. Interviews with scientists and activists provide an alarming picture of what we are dealing with right here, at home. Much of the problem we face seems to be our own contamination of our precious potable water supply. Pesticides and chemical byproducts are invading our water supplies and confronting us with a disastrous set of problems. These contaminants are more difficult to treat than the microbials that make untreated water in places like South Africa, Bolivia and India dangerous.

The contaminants present in our water are carcinogens like perchlorate (rocket fuel) and the pesticide atrazine. The effects of such contaminants is discussed and detailed in FLOW, so if you are curious why the most used pesticide in the US is one that is banned throughout the European Union, despite its Swiss origins, you should definitely go see FLOW.

The screening hosted by ECOS on Friday night also featured a panel and discussion after the film. The panel included Jonas Minton, Senior Water Policy Advisor for the Planning and Conservation League, Bill Craven, Chief Consultant for the California State Senate Natural Resources and Water Committee, and Dale and Gale Stocking, long-time water advocates from the Stockton area.

This was really great because it provided a forum for people who were already concerned about the water crisis or people who had just learned some disturbing facts from the film to ask questions, get some answers and learn about where Sacramento stands on the water crisis. Another great thing that happened was that after the panel discussion had ended, people from the audience began talking with one another and discussing what they know and what they share: a concern about water.

FLOW has been playing at The Crest theater since last Friday. The last day to see it there is this Thursday, October 30. Hurry! Don't miss this great film. To learn more about the film, its creation, and its message, visit the official movie Web site. Have you seen the movie? Did you get to see and participate in the panel discussion? Have you been personally effected by the issues discussed here? Leave your comments in the conversation space below. I'll leave you with the quote that kicked off the movie:

"Thousands have lived without love, but not one without water."

- W.H. Auden