"If the wars of the 20th century were fought over oil, the wars of the 21st century will be fought over water," said University of Miami School of Communications professor Sanjeev Chatterjee in discussing his motivations for creating One Water, a documentary about the world's water crisis.
Last Friday night, students gathered to view One Water and participate in a panel on world water problems. The panel discussed the effectiveness of using documentaries as tools to raise awareness and funds and the political and economic difficulties of providing clean water to all.
The panel consisted of Chatterjee - the film's writer, director and producer - Penn Community Health assistant professor Kent Bream and Vice President of design projects for Penn Engineers Without Borders and Engineering and Wharton senior Matt Owens.
One Water shows the uses of water in 15 countries around the world, contrasting water parks and thermal baths where clean water flows in abundance with miles-long treks through desert to gather a jug of water for one day's use. It also questions the increasing commodification of water by for-profit companies.
After the screening, the panelists gave brief presentations on their work. Chatterjee discussed the various incarnations that One Water has gone through in its creation and its effect worldwide. Bream talked about his work with the Guatemala Health Initiative Water Project.
Owens presented Penn EWB's clean-water projects - including protecting a local spring and providing clean water to villages in Cameroon and Honduras and educational outreach programs in Philadelphia.
The presentations were followed by a question-and-answer session.
Prospective Liberal and Professional Studies student Mamta Shah said the screening was interesting but didn't go far enough in raising awareness.
"The problem with [a documentary] is that it's not available to the larger public. It sometimes gets unnoticed and ignored ... I feel that a lot of large-scale propaganda needs to be done about it," she said.
A wordless version of One Water, called 1H2O, was shown in 20 countries yesterday as part of World Water Day.
