Atlanta, Georgia, was the biggest city in the U.S. to privatize its water. Soon after signing over its municipal system, residents were reporting their tap water turned brown and had a foul odor. In July of 1999, Northumbrian Water (a subsidiary of Suez) was cited by officials for having high levels of iron and manganese in their processed water. It was declared unfit for drinking.

There are also many examples overseas. According to an Alternet report, Vivendi, another French multinational, through its subsidiary in Tregeux, France, supplied residents with water “unfit for consumption on 476 days between 1990 and 1993.” Also, the BBC reported that five water companies in the UK (Anglian, Severn Trent, Northumbrian, Wessex, and Yorkshire) were prosecuted successfully because of water pollution.

In the business of water mining, you want to pump as much as you can, as fast as you can. But when you do that to an aquifer, the natural volume and pressure changes. In some privatized sites in Florida, sea water has been pulled into the aquifers, turning them brackish. Nestlé has contaminated at least one such site. In Pennsylvania, at another Nestlé site, water bottled and shipped to distributors picked up a smell of gasoline, according to a number of consumers in the Chicago area. For several weeks, the Jewel store chain in Chicago took the Ice Mountain bottles off the shelf.

But these are minor irritants for a huge multinational. The estimated take worldwide for the bottled water business is over one hundred billion dollars a year. You can put up with a lot of complaining for that kind of money.

And there are other problems of water purity. A researcher named Leuren Moret has worked extensively on the issue of trace elements of uranium in our water. Some uranium is naturally occurring, but more of it is coming from sources like the depleted uranium weapons used in the both Iraq wars. Particles of uranium, carried aloft by winds, often end up in drinking water. Public health officials and many scientists say this is no big deal. But think about this terrifying fact: Male birth rates of many species are in decline around the world. Biologic female traits are also on the increase, and often at the expense of male traits. This phenomenon has engulfed many species that live in water. Hermaphroditic fish are showing up all over the world.  [Watch Conspiracy Theory with Jesse Ventura on truTV]

Male otters are growing breasts. At the same time, there’s another kind of animal experiencing a similar decline in male fertility and male traits: humans. So what does this have to do with uranium? Uranium is a well-known estrogenic substance, which means that it stimulates estrogen production. The more estrogen, the less testosterone.

If this wasn’t enough, some government scientists and researchers are advocating that small amounts of lithium be added to our drinking water. They argue that areas with naturally occurring lithium have less suicides and happier people. Lithium is normally used to treat bipolar mental illness and is known to have a tranquilizing effect. So ask yourself: If there was a worldwide goal of controlling mass populations, would there be a better way to accomplish it than owning the water? And maybe lacing it with uranium to reduce the male population—and adding lithium to make sure we don’t care.