This initiative generated multiple benefits: protecting native biodiversity, increasing local water supply, and enabling the company to use the cleared vegetation as biomass fuel.

FORBES: Big Business And The Amazon: Protecting Nature's Benefits

For a few years, a company called Nordic Water Supply from Oslo, Norway, transported water in bags 200 meters long from Turkey to the northern coast of Cyprus.

FORBES: Water Emergencies: Time for New Plans and Technology

Although the company has won some juicy concessions to supply water internationally, its domestic business is under attack (see box).

ECONOMIST: Suez and Lyonnaise des Eaux

The protesters from the nearby community of Mareniyoc blame the mining company for a worsening water shortage and demand the firm supply them with drinking water.

BBC: Deadly clash at Peru protest over Barrick gold mine

The citizens of El Alto, a poor, sprawling city perched above La Paz, the capital, are engaged in a like-minded campaign to throw out a French water company, which they blame for high prices and for failing to supply water to hundreds of thousands of people.

ECONOMIST: Turmoil in Bolivia

The company said some residents in and around Liverpool city could notice temporary low water pressure or a loss of supply as engineers re-route water supplies to all customers.

BBC: People evacuated after pipe bursts in Huyton