When what's happening to gas happens to drinking water

Let's start with the fairy tale that came true for the gasoline magnates:

• Once upon a time, a number of companies bought up drilling rights here and oil refineries there and eventually gained control over the USA's gasoline.
• For a while, gasoline hovered under $2 a gallon, and the companies and magnates had to console themselves with--ho hum--tidy profits.
• One day, some people began to worry that there wasn't always going to be enough gas for everyone. "Demand will grow," they said. "Supply will fall."
• But the gas companies and magnates, instead of panicking, began rubbing their hands together. Gigantic, ridiculously huge profits, they knew, come to those who wait.
• Next, developing countries started buying cars and, at the same time, world gas production pretty much peaked. In other words, demand grew. Supply fell.
• Prices skyrocket, people suffered, but the oil and gas companies and magnates made huge, unprecedented profits.
• Peak oil, it turned out, wasn't their worst nightmare at all. It was their happiest fantasy!
• So the oil companies and magnates lived happily ever after.
• Too bad about everyone else.

Now let's look at the future fairy tale that the companies who privatize our drinking water look forward to:

• Nestle, Coca-Cola, Pepsi, Suez and a bunch of other companies buy up water rights around the United States and elsewhere.
• For a while, people buy bottled water for less than $2 a gallon (even though tap water is free).
• The water barons console themselves with--ho hum--tidy profits, selling their water for something like a thousand times what they pay for it.
• Then, the phrase "peak water" gets bandied about, but far from worrying that the water will run out, the water barons begin buying water rights up faster than ever.
• Next, in some future scenario, underfunding to the municipal water supplies or pollution in the aquifers means that clean tap water becomes scarcer and scarcer and drinking bottle water is not a choice but a necessity.
• In other words, demand grows, Supply falls.
• Prices skyrocket, people suffer, but the water barons make huge, unprecedented profits.
• Peak water, it turns out, wasn't their worst nightmare at all. It was their happiest fantasy!
• So the water barons lived happily ever after.
• Too bad about everyone else.

You see, it's not just about the plastic bottles. It's not just about the food miles. It's about the fundamental right of access to drinking water. Are we willing for our children to have happen to them for water what is happening to us for gas?

We can make a difference!

• Take action against privatization of water in California here.
• Support federal funding of clean drinking water here.
• Learn how to boycott bottled water here.
• Read about my ultra-cool reusable water bottle here.
• I don't know what else, do you? Please leave your ideas in the comments!

Comments

[Bill]

Colin

LOVE your site, and trying my darnedest to live up to your example--already walking to the train station for my commute into Manhattan (most days at least), trying to get off "disposable", and trying to reduce, recycle, reuse as much as possible! Thanks for the inspiration!

Gotta tell you that I have bought less than 10 bottles of water in my entire lifetime (I'll be 48 soon)-- the bottled water companies are laughing themselves to the bank with the American consumer (Evian = NAIVE spelled backwards!)!

Although I've been greatly inspired by George Orwell's 1984 more and more it seems that BIG CORPORATION controls our lives (all kinds of information can be garnered from in-store credit card records, especially when coupled with a zip code! (Lesson here -- pay CASH as much as possible). So instead of 1984 America increasingly looks like the America featured in a novel a few years back called "Jennifer Government" (can't remember the author --but EVERYTHING from highways to schools, apaprtment complexes, etc. were controlled by major corporatiaons like McDonalds and Mattel)!

So, PLEASE keep spreading the word

THANKS

PS--Saw the post about you in NY Times magazine -- too brief!

[Gaming Girl]

The only other thing I can see to do is boycott not only bottled water, but also sodas, and even the chocolate from Nestle.

In other words, by local for everything, including sodas. :)

I love your site by the way and have been reading for awhile, even though I don't comment much.

I think what you've done is inspiring and I keep looking for things to change in my own lifestyle. (I'm waiting for my re-useable water bottle to show up. *winks*)

[Sharon]

Water privatization, while lousy in California, is far more tragic among the world's poor. So one strategy would be to start a campaign to actually enforce the UN Declaration of Human Rights, which declares access to clean water a universal right.

I'd recommend you read Vandana Shiva's Water Wars if you haven't - she has some additional suggestions.

Sharon

[Novembrance]

This is a very scary issue, especially for those in the American West, given the depletion of the Ogalalla Aquifer. Thanks for the great ideas and links.

[Susan Och]

We need to support our public infrastructure.

This means becoming knowledgeable about our water and sewer systems, our transportation systems, our power grid, our dams and bridges, and then publicly supporting these "investments in the common good" when short-sighted people want to damn them all in the name of lower taxes.

NYC's water system is a great example. The city has been built on the promise of clean, abundant water piped in from the Catskills. The system is almost 100 years old and was estimated to need $13 billion in repairs in 2005.

Just yesterday, two of the three remaining presidential candidates were calling for cutting the federal gas tax, a tax that is earmarked for infrastructure needs.

[Diane Gandee Sorbi]

A good book about this subject is "Thirst", by Alan Snitow and Deborah Kaufman. There was also a PBS documentary by the same name.

This water issue is scary stuff. With the population likely to increase to 10 billion, and probable upcoming droughts worldwide, I have no doubt there are greedy corporate types salivating at the thought of all the profits and control this situation can bring them.

[Margaret]

Thanks for the link to the Calif. issues--here I thought I was an "aware" CA voter, and I didn't know about the legislation. I very seldom send e-mails to friends asking them to specifically take action, but I just sent notice to a bunch of them! I'm a supporter of a number of public water projects in developing countries, and I agree that those nations may be the most vulnerable to corporate exploitation in the long run--what a disastrous model. I love PlayPumps--talk about the opposite model, where kids play on a merry-go-round and pump water into the communal tank in African villages.

[katecontinued]

I will take these actions, thanks. Related to your thesis is the following information I have been waiting for a couple of years to see our Irritainment ‘news’ sources report. Still waiting.

The Guaraní Aquifer is located beneath the surface of the original four Mercosur countries (Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay), is one of the world's largest aquifer systems and an important source of fresh water for its people.
• US President George W. Bush allegedly has recently purchased a 98,842 acre farm in Chaco, Paraguay atop the aquifer. source.
• The Reverend Moon has purchased 1,482,600 acres in Chaco, Paraguay.

Does anyone doubt the mendaciousness of these men and those who support / direct them?

[Jessica]

Great post, but I do feel the need to point out that there is a big difference between peak oil production and what could happen to water if privitization takes place. Peak oil refers to the mathematic certainty that we will be unable to pull oil out of the ground. Water is always going to be around (unless we start blasting it out into space), its just going to be monopolized. Personally, I think the situation with the water is worse, if it happens. We can't really help the peak oil thing. Eventually it will become an energy sink, thats the nature of a finite resource. But if the water thing happens, it will be because we let it happen. Water is renewable, there's no reason for anyone not to have enough.
A drill sergeant when I was in basic training once told me something very wise indeed. He said "There are two things in this world you should never, ever pay for, because its free, its everywhere. Water and sex."
I wish he could spread that message to more people than basic training recruits.

[arduous]

Thank you SO much for all those links. I will definitely write to fight the privatization of water in CA.

[marguerite manteau-rao]

Colin,

Here is another idea. One of my friend owns a water desal technology company that is making desalinated cheaper that regular tap water. What that does is take care of the limited supply problem. His company is not talked about very much as he is a very quiet corporate type. It is being courted by big guys like GE, right now. Check it out, and you will see what I mean. The name of the company is Energy Recovery Inc, based in Hayward, CA.

[Taffy]

Thanks for raising awareness on this issue. It is a crime of huge proportion, letting anyone "buy" the water of the world- and especially in poor countries! I am lucky enough to have my own well, but I watch w/ amazement as my clueless neighbors water their lawns when not needed (in NJ you NEVER NEED to water a lawn!) as they deplete the aquifer under our houses.
And Jennifer, I don't believe water is an infinite resource. There is lots of sea water- and sometinmes lots of water in certain places, but not everyone even now has access to unlimited clean water! And with population growth and development...I see only bigger problems.
Thanks for raising awareness Colin.

[Jen from Brooklyn]

Great post Colin. Peak oil and the food shortage are linked - the corn people used to eat is now going into our gas tanks. Does anyone know what the water impact of ethanol is? I know it takes a lot of water to produce it, but don't have good numbers.

[torbjornrive]

I think Susan Och (a few above) makes a good point, it's about supporting and being aware of the infrastructure, and how the system works in relation to our surroundings, AND our impact on it.

Water is (and will continue to be) a touchy subject these days up here in British Columbia. We're seeing a bigger impact on streams as they're used for 'green' developments for power production: there are pros and cons to their development, but when hundreds of streams are changed at their SOURCE, the trouble runs downstream.

Love the blog!

[Jami]

I realize that my idea is not feasible for a lot of people, especially you apartment and city dwellers, but harvesting rainwater is another option. There are a lot of resources on the net for how-to's. I would love to do this just so I don't have to pay for water for my garden in a few years.

[Jessica]

Oh yeah, Jen from Brooklyn. Ethanol is a mess all around. We use more oil to produce ethanol than we get energy out of it. That is the definition of an energy sink. Takes more energy than it gives (kind of like eating celery). I don't know the water usage on making ethanol, but any amount is too much to spend on an energy sink. Any amount of anything is too much to spend on an energy sink.

[Jessica]

Jami,
Harvesting rain water is illegal in many places. My poor old grandmother in Boulder is a regular criminal!

[Rebecca]

Thanks for the links. AS for the production of ethanol it actually takes MORE water for a persons steak than it does for crops.
Water maybe renewable but with the "crap" that we as humans dump into our water supply each and every day from fertilizers, oil, gas, and other contaminates that either are dumped or just runoff into the ground water it will soon either be very expensive to treat our water to actually make it drinkable hence the nasty use of chlorine in the water or we will actually have to start drinking bottled water from other places which will hurt the ecosystem, the economy and other trickle down effects that have nothing to do with economics.

[WKM]

Great awareness post. Thank you Colin. Municipalities are essential for many people, and we need to keep on them to ensure the most responsible action. At the same time we as people should not sit back and wait to be a victim of the shortcomings of our government. Take the initiative to be self sufficient. A water catchment system can be implemented at various levels with costs ranging from free to thousands. One simple but effective and way to live sustainably. Where I live it rains frequently, and when it does I see water flowing out of the rain gutters and into the streets or down drains. What a big waste of the most precious commodity on this planet.

[Patricia]

This reminds me of the song by Scottish singer/songwriter Dougie Maclean, "Shame", intercepted on his album "Whitewash" with recordings of the stockmarket news with sahres in fresh salt water reaching a fantatic high! Science fiction in 1990 but scarily prescient now!

Music & Lyrics by Dougie MacLean. Published by Limetree Arts and Music

Shame shame on you ruthless selfmade man
Oh you’ve loaded your ambition on the children of this land
And shame shame on your great eternal plan
It’s your own diseased direction
You’ll get there any way you can

CHORUS
Oh but we can see you now
You can’t fool all the people
And we don’t believe you now
You can’t fool all the people all the time

Shame shame you see our lives a market place
Oh we’re all consumer units in your greedy little race
And shame shame on your vision of our life
Your friends are carved with conquest
Upon the handle of your knife
CHORUS

Shame shame on your cool stock city guile
Oh you’re pressed into your business suit and polished to your smile
And shame shame on your brute dishonesty
You manipulate the numbers
But don’t intend to set them free
CHORUS

[Patricia]

This reminds me of the song by Scottish singer/songwriter Dougie Maclean, "Shame", intercepted on his album "Whitewash" with recordings of the stockmarket news with sahres in fresh salt water reaching a fantatic high! Science fiction in 1990 but scarily prescient now!

Music & Lyrics by Dougie MacLean. Published by Limetree Arts and Music

Shame shame on you ruthless selfmade man
Oh you’ve loaded your ambition on the children of this land
And shame shame on your great eternal plan
It’s your own diseased direction
You’ll get there any way you can

CHORUS
Oh but we can see you now
You can’t fool all the people
And we don’t believe you now
You can’t fool all the people all the time

Shame shame you see our lives a market place
Oh we’re all consumer units in your greedy little race
And shame shame on your vision of our life
Your friends are carved with conquest
Upon the handle of your knife
CHORUS

Shame shame on your cool stock city guile
Oh you’re pressed into your business suit and polished to your smile
And shame shame on your brute dishonesty
You manipulate the numbers
But don’t intend to set them free
CHORUS

[MandyPandy]

Well put.

[Anne B]

Thanks for the great post. You got me out of google reader to come over here and leave a comment. Access to and availability of drinking water is a topic that I am very interested and I think it's great that you are spreading the word on how important it is. Even taking steps like not buying bottled water can be very significant. And promoting the idea that water is more than just a human need, but a basic human right.

Thanks again,

Anne

[Rocko]

Oh shoot! I didn't notice this until I came to your site. Thanks for bringing it to my attention because I live in California and I am a staunch supporter for keeping our water in public hands. I love your blog and keep up the good work!

[Tim Patterson]

Scary thoughts but thanks for posting this Colin.

Here's the website of a non-profit that's developing low-cost, low-tech water filtration systems for use in the rural communities where the water supply is contaminated by pesticides.

http://aqsolutions.org