Water Is The New Oil

[RestoreGore]

Just wait. Your water will one day be supplied by Coke or Pepsi, and you will pay through the nose for it. Water is now becoming a commodity to be traded with no value given to its intrinsic value as a human right... and that has and WILL affect human life.

Infrastructure in North America is in DESPERATE need of fixing, and politicians KNOW THIS but still do not plan for it. Instead, they allow it to crumble as our tax dollars are diverted to other projects of less importance so that privitization of resources can occur to make them money and give them more political clout.

They are exploiting this precious resource for their own gain at our expense... And it is being done subtly and quietly without many people in municipalities even in this country knowing what is going on regarding their own water supply. The price of water even in my own community has gone up FORTY PERCENT, but the money is not going to infrastructure or to provide better service, but to pay off BOND DEBT... Bonds that were issued to build a golf course...that needs lots of water to keep it green. How ironic.

People, you need to do research as to what is going on regarding water in your own community. Predators in the private sector are just licking their chops to get in and take over your supply because there is now big business in water... and I predict that like in other countries around the world where the people are poor and vulnerable, the same tactics will be employed right here in the U.S. to get it, and the people have to stand up against it.

WATER IS A HUMAN RIGHT, not a commodity to be sold by Coke for a profit that only the rich will be able to afford!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Water Is The New Oil

CIBC
ROMA LUCIW

Globe and Mail Update

The colossal cost of fixing crumbling water infrastructure in the developed world has opened the door to government privatization. Water delivery systems in the industrial world are in “dire need” of repair, says a report released Monday by CIBC World Markets Inc. At least one-fifth of America's municipal wastewater treatment facilities do not comply with federal regulations and in some U.S. cities, more than half of the water headed to consumers is lost along the way.

CIBC economist Benjamin Tal, author of the “Tapping into Water” report, estimates it will take “hundreds of billions of dollars” to fix dated water infrastructure in North America and Europe. Federal governments are not rushing to fix the infrastructure and municipalities lack the means to do so. “As a result, governments are now much more open to the notion of privatizing their water infrastructure which, in turn, is providing a substantial boost to the private water industry,” Mr. Tal said.

"What we are witnessing here is a trend that is profoundly modifying water as an investment theme throughout the world.” Mr. Tal sees parallels between today's water industry and the oil industry in its golden era, before and after the Second World War. “The market is paying attention,” he said. “Capital investment, deregulation, consolidation, and privatization of global water assets and services are advancing at a pace not seen before.”

In the last three years, U.S.-based water companies — as measured by the Bloomberg U.S. water index — have surged 150 per cent, three times the rise seen by companies on the S&P 500, while paying twice as much in dividends. International water players are doing even better, Mr. Tal said, with their stock values rising twice as fast as their American counterparts in the past year alone.

skip

World Bank estimates suggest that outsourcing and privatization in the water sector are set to double in the coming five years to reach a near 40 per cent share of the market. “If crumbling water infrastructures in North America and Europe provide the private water industry with great opportunities, the potential in the developing world is even greater,” Mr. Tal said.
More at the link.
~~~~~~~~~~
Also see:

Water Must Go To Those Who Deserve It Most, The Rich

If you live in the U.S. and your water is supplied by a private company, then say hello to your new owner as of 2002:

RWE

Which bought out:

American Water
Now in 16 states.

Remember, it's all about PROFIT.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
UPDATE: 11.30.06

New Report Questions The Future Of American Water

http://water-is-life.blogspot.com

[BadgerKid]

1. Not one day, but today; Coca-cola sells Dasani water. n/t

[Ellis Wyatt]

2. Coke & Pepsi

already supply my water. Dasani & Aquafina are coke & Pepsi brands

[RestoreGore]

6. Nestle too...

http://water-is-life.blogspot.com/2006/10/bottled-water-lie.html

But I also meant that now that it is to be used as a market commodity, private companies will be free to just buy up municipal supplies as well especially in light of the fact that they can take advantage of our crumbling infrastructure as an excuse by saying they will make it better. They should rename this country the United States of Privitization.

[InternalDialogue]

3. From the New Yorker in October.

A fantastic examination of India's water supply, specifically in Chennai (Madras). It's an illustration of what happens when clean natural water becomes scarce and the infrastructure for delivering clean water is in arrears. (The city lines that carry water for New Delhi leak one third of their water before it reaches homes or businesses.) And it's obvious what happens when an indispensable commodity is scarce -- the collection, control, pricing and disbursement of it falls into the hands of those whose interests are not humane, but monetary.

From the article:

By 2050, there will be at least nine billion people on the planet, the great majority of them in developing countries. If water were spread evenly across the globe, there might be enough for everyone. But rain often falls in the least desirable places at the most disadvantageous times. Delhi gets fewer than forty days of rain each year—all in less than four months. In other Indian cities, the situation is worse. Somehow, though, the country has to sustain nearly twenty per cent of the earth’s population with four per cent of its water. China has less water than Canada—and forty times as many people. With wells draining aquifers far faster than they can be replenished by rain, the water table beneath Beijing has fallen nearly two hundred feet in the past twenty years.

(snip)

The fourteen million residents of New Delhi consume nine hundred million gallons of freshwater each day; the city supplies nearly seven hundred million gallons from rivers and reservoirs, but more than a third of it is lost to leaks within the ten-thousand-kilometre system of dilapidated pipes and pumping stations. Some of the rest is siphoned off by an increasingly brazen water mafia, which then sells it to people in slums like Kesum Purbahari who are supposed to get it for free.

When you can’t get enough water from the surface of the earth, there are really only two alternatives: pray for rain or start to dig. In India, Africa, China, and much of the rest of the developing world, people are digging as they never have before. Nearly two billion people rely on wells for their water, some of which is easily accessible. Far more lies trapped in the pores of rocks, or buried hundreds of metres below tons of ancient shale and metamorphic debris. Sturdy drills and cheap new pumps have made much of that water available—liberating millions of farmers from centuries of dependence on rain. The freedom comes at a cost, though, because once groundwater is gone it is often gone for good.

There were two million wells in India thirty years ago; today, there are twenty-three million. As the population grows, the freshwater available to each resident dwindles, and people have no choice but to dig deeper. Drill too deep, though, and saltwater and arsenic can begin to seep in. When that happens, an aquifer is ruined forever. Wells throughout the country have become useless. Brackish water has even infiltrated parts of Punjab, the northern state that is India’s most important agricultural region. As sources dry up and wells are abandoned, farmers have turned on each other and on themselves. Indian newspapers are filled with accounts of fights between states or neighbors over access to lakes and reservoirs, and of “suicide farmers,” driven to despair by poverty, debt, and often by drought. There have been thousands of such suicides in the past few years.

[RestoreGore]

7. Great article.Thank you

This is also happening because in that region of India/Pakistan/China there are multiple dams in the works that environmentalists rightly claim will not only harm the environment, but also divert much needed water from these poorer areas. Seventy percent of all water is wasted in irrigation not to mention what escapes from pipes if people even have pipes, and it is a worldwide problem that like the climate crisis is absolutely a moral issue. China specifically faces quite a dilemma with 90% of its groundwater being polluted, with desertification on the rise, severe drought in Northern China, and millions without water. Add to that the melting glaciers of the Himalayas due in part to anthropogenic climate change, and you have a catastrophe in the making. It is simply outrageous, unacceptable, and preventable. Thanks again for the link.

[InternalDialogue]

19. IIRC, the New Yorker article addresses irrigation pretty directly.

They discuss the problem when a longstanding, traditional crop like rice is no longer something that can be farmed without using too much of a precious resource. My hard copy of the magazine is gone, but I may have to revisit the online piece.

Also, if I recall correctly (but not from the article) China, oddly enough, is the largest importer of American rice. A step, perhaps, on the part of the Chinese to begin searching for alternatives to growing their own?

[buddysmellgood]

32. Consider this: The water table beneath the North China Plain

produces close to 40 percent of China's grain. It has fallen roughly five feet per year for more than a decade. It takes about 1,000 pounds of water to produce one pound of wheat; therefore, the cheapest way for China to import water is to import grain.

In the United States, the Ogallala aquifer lies beneath the great plains of eight states. Nearly one-third of the water used in irrigation in the United States comes from this aquifer. It also is declining several feet per year on average, with a recharge rate of only inches per year.

We are selling our water to China.

[NMDemDist2]

4. can't believe I'm the only one who has Recommended this thread n/t

[RestoreGore]

9. And thank you for that

This most definitely is an important issue that I believe more people should be aware of.

[applegrove]

5. I think it is already in play. Like Israel and other places around the expanding

deserts.

[RestoreGore]

8. The Littani River

And the Jordan. The King of Jordan claimed that water would be the only reason he would go to war. You are right about that.

[eridani]

16. And Ariel Sharon said that if Lebanon took any more water--

--from the Litani River, he would consider that an act of war. They did, and look what happened.

[RestoreGore]

24. yes...

And the Palestinians are being starved because they have no water to grow crops. To me that is a human rights abuse and a war crime.

[InternalDialogue]

10. RestoreGore, did you cross-post this to GD or GDP?

I've added my rec, but I think you'd get a bunch more if it had exposure there or a link back to this forum?

[RestoreGore]

25. What is GD and GDP?

Thanks.

[NMDemDist2]

40. GD=General Discussion and GDP= GD Politics

they are the two BIG forums

[Kerrytravelers]

11. "The Corporation" speaks of this very thing.

I'm glad to see more written on this very important issue.

Thank you.


k&r

[Lowell]

12. We suffer from a water shortage in Florida

and yet they keep encouraging people to come down here. They build condos and crowd in where ever there is an open space. All the while our water supply is diminishing.

The greatest reason for this shortage in Florida is the lousy urban planning. I live in Pinellas county and it is a disaster. They have built on the beaches, feet from the gulf, and there is no fresh water around. We are the most densely populated county in the state and have no natural water source in our entire area.

The water from Zephyrhills has been sold to the French so it is all bottled and sent either overseas or sold right back to us as Perrier. We really are some of the dumbest animals on the planet.

[thingfisher]

13. I remember seeing cowboy movies

as a kid where ranchers were warring over water rights. As a kid it seemed strange for people to be warring over something that came out of a spigot for free. At that time anyone would think you were nuts for BUYING a bottle of water from the store (if you could find such a commodity).

Restoration of our infrastructure would be a very worthwhile enterprise which could employ many people who need work. To bad our governments are so in the pocket of corporate interests that they cannot even formulate a plan to undertake such a civic minded project.

Privitization has become a code word for merciless exploitation of resources for corporate profits regardless of the social ramifications.

[RestoreGore]

23. Yes, the choice between gold bars and our planet...

You would think the choice would be a no brainer.

[Auntie Bush]

14. That's why the filthy thief

bush* bought almost 100,000 acres of land in Paraguay next to the worlds that's largest fresh water supply. I forget the details...but that's suppose to be why Jenna Bush was in the area...unless that story was all hogwash. He gets to make more millions and also have a safe place to exile/protect himself from the world and prosecution. We also have a huge military force established there that he could afford to pay off.

[YankeyMCC]

15. Kick and more good info

http://www.worldwatch.org/taxonomy/term/433

But also this piece which talks about much of the problem not being scarcity but social/economic inequity:

http://www.worldwatch.org/node/4749

Which is of course being exacerbated by the growing scarcity of unpolluted fresh water.

[RestoreGore]

22. I will definitely take a look at these...

Thank you. And I agree that it is also a matter of socio-economic inequity, and that the poor are paying much more for their water than they should ever have to. To see how the rich are exploiting this resource around the world for their own benefit is sickening. The bottled water industry alone now takes in more profit than the pharmaceutical industry... and this while people and their animals die in drought while much of our remaining fresh water is treated like a dumping ground. It is obscene.

[eridani]

17. A distressing exchange on a local mailing list for Progressive Dems

--WA state, involved a nasty flame war between Dems from Eastern and Western Washington. The former were arguing dams and irrigation first, and the latter were taking the side of the fish. This was a major bone of contention at the last state party meeting as well. The exchange made me really despair--here we were, a mailing list full of left-leaning Dems, arguing about the disposition of water in the Columbia River watershed--one of the world's most generous. Appealing to the core Dem value of sticking up for the little guy was no help--both farmers and fishermen are little guys. And those of us really blessed by Nature can't agree, what possible hope is there for Israel and Lebanon arguing over the Litani River, which is just a muddy trickle by comparison?

[whirlygigspin]

18. blue planet project is a good resource for this

http://www.blueplanetproject.net/index.html

[RestoreGore]

21. I know of this project and agree

It is a good place to start. Thanks.

[NMDemDist2]

41. and thanks to Hanford, the Columbia will be nothing more than a radioactive

sludge pond

I wouldn't eat the fish downstream from Hanford, I remember the three eyed frogs from Rancho Seco and the warnings every year not to eat the fish in the streams or to use the sand from the same

[RestoreGore]

20. This is a great program on water policy

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=6261527

Environment
Water Policy Around the World


Talk of the Nation, October 13, 2006 · Increased demand for water around the world means that some sources are running dry, leaving areas without enough fresh water. More affluent areas are turning to untapped sources of water including desalination and creative reuse or recycling of existing water sources.

Guests:

Brent Haddad, associate professor of environmental studies, University of California


Sandra Postel, visiting senior lecturer in environmental studies at Mount Holyoke College, director of the Global Water Policy Project

Jerry Maxwell, general manager, Tampa Bay Water
~~~~~~~~~~~
They also discuss desalinisation, which I see as necessary in places in the Middle East, but in places where conservation and better water management is possible, I see it only as a bandaid as it also produces much CO2 which really adds to the vicious cycle, and is an expensive process to maintain.

[RestoreGore]

26. Thank you for the recommendations...

I really hope more people begin to look into this problem for we cannot live without water, and in this century it is becoming more of a precious resource than it has ever been.

[Bullshot]

27. I can never understand why people pay as much for bottled water as other beverages.

It's the biggest rip-off in society today.

Check out your grocery stores. You pay more per ounce for bottled water than you do for 2% milk. And most of your bottled water is nothing but filtered tap water.

Just to show how these bottled water companies are laughing all the way to the bank: One of the most popular brands is Evian. What's Evian spelled backwards? That's right--NAIVE.

I always said that the brand name is a subliminal message.

[Triana]

28. I've been saying this for a few years now...

...mostly stemming from articles like this.

[RestoreGore]

30. Yes, so many have been saying this

I think it is about time we were listened to.

[RestoreGore]

29. Good site...

http://www.uswaternews.com/news.html

For anyone who wants to keep up with U.S. water news.

[formercia]

31. I own land over a valuable aquifer

Over 30 acres on top of the same aquifer that Poland Spring uses as a source of its water. The neighbors are fighting it out because some are affecting the water table and 'stealing' water from others.

Just like the old days out west.

[RestoreGore]

34. That wouldn't be Maine by any chance, would it?

[formercia]

35. Yup.

and the water boils out of the ground like a real spring should.It's the original aquifer that Poland Spring used but they have gone to wells and water sources that caused them to be sued for misrepresentation.

I'll just sit on it until i'm ready to retire.

[RestoreGore]

33. The myth that bottled water is better

http://www.nrdc.org/water/drinking/nbw.asp

Companies spend billions each year to try to convince people that their tap water is crap so they buy their bottled water, which is really in many cases no better and opened to less stringent safety requirememts than tap water. In other words, we are being duped. And the only way they will feel the pinch is for people to wean themselves off the bottle. A 400 BILLION dollar business... while people in this world go without the water they need even for proper sanitation. Insane.

[formercia]

36. Right On.

The only time I filter water is in the Summer when Algae bloom, otherwise, the city water out of the tap is fine.

If people are concerned about the quality of their tap water, they can have it tested.


I must admit i've lived in places where the tap water was awful.

Paying over a dollar for a pint of water is crazy.

[Massacure]

37. especially when it cost a couple cents a gallon to filter it yourself.

A dollar per pint of water is more than crazy.

[Mendocino]

38. And all those plastic bottles made from oil,

transported by vehicles run by oil. I'll drink tap water delivered by pipe for pennies, filtered through my Brita.

[formercia]

39. Non biodegradable bottles

a blight on the landscape, as is all 'modern' waste.