Water is viewed by many financiers as the “new petroleum” of the 21st century – a commodity that is in ever-shorter supply, and that people will be willing to pay more and more to have access to. However, global water supplies are at risk from a wide variety of threats. Global warming is shrinking glaciers and snowfields that millions rely on for drinking and irrigation water. Mining of ancient groundwater supplies can only go on for so long before the aquifers run dry, and industrial and agricultural pollution is widespread.

The documentary film “Flow,” (first premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January and premiering in national theaters today), condemns water profiteering and calls for a UN resolution to make access to clean drinking water a human right.

The film by French-born director Irena Salina blasts Paris-based Suez and Vivendi Environment for commercializing water systems around the world, as well as Nestle, the world’s largest bottled water seller, for draining watersheds.

Even the World Bank gets knocked in the film for funding massive water diversion projects that have displaced 80 million people, instead of smaller, cheaper and more eco-friendly community projects to bring fresh drinking water to the poor.

“It’s a very dangerous trend, at a time when clean drinking water is becoming scarce, even in the United States, the richest country in the world,” said Salina in an interview with AFP.

“We can’t let companies continue to pollute our water. We need strong regulations to stop that, and also to stop them from draining our watersheds for profit,” she said.

Along with a collective of activists, she is calling for a binding international treaty to protect the human right to water, as well as tougher local laws to prevent contamination of watersheds and water profiteering.

Check out the trailer below.