In the United States, 85 percent of water utilities are still public-owned, but that figure could change rapidly as multinational corporations such as France's Vivendi Universal and Germany's RWE swallow up smaller, locally run utilities around the world. But should basic economic principles such as the law of supply and demand apply to water? Is water a basic right to which everyone, rich or poor, deserves access? [refers to Vivendi Universal (Vivendi Environnement is now Veolia Environnement), United Water (part of Suez), American Water (part of RWE), Bechtel, Aqueous Corp.]