HUBGRAM: Bigger Than Oil...

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BIGGER THAN OIL?
The Future of Water: Where Do We Go From Here?
By Les Aaron

Anyone willing to wager their next paycheck that within most of our lifetimes, the demand for oil will be overshadowed by the struggle for water?

We are already seeing signs of that happening and the opportunity for crisis down the line; yet, the government seems little concerned about protecting vital resources.

The French have already seized the opportunity by buying up water rights around the world; other entrepreneurs who see the opportunity for a quick buck are doing likewise.

Who suffers? The rest of us who are dependent on that precious supply of a commodity we can't live without..

Serious entrepreneurs have bought rights to the Ganges and now are selling bottled Ganges water to the locals at a price many cannot afford when they previously got their water at no cost.

This may sound kind of funny and almost laughable but it isn't and if anything it has the potential for being deadly.

For those with any kind of vision and a slippery morality, water is the business to be in.

Many countries have limited supplies coming from limited sources. Yearly, more and more river beds, lakes and other sources dry up and turn into desert with little hope of the process ever being reversed.

In Africa, the difference between having a community pump in the middle of town may make the difference between death or survival.

Among the famed young boys who escaped from Ethiopia, there was never a question in their mind over their two year exodus about the importance of water to their survival. It got to the point, several said, of having to spend most of their time licking stones or finding fresh grass to capture the dew that allowed them to survive the long trip to Kenya.

There are already fights brewing in our own southwest as to whether the water that comes from the Colorado should be put into the crops or the cattle; never mind the needs of the local populations.

If anyone has traveled over the Colorado through places like the old Route 66 out of season and seen the bare trickle that flows out of the mountains, the possibility that there may not be enough water to provide for all the people who have swelled the areas like Las Vegas, Albuquerque and Phoenix is a very confounding reality.

Yet, this government does very little to protect this most vital asset. Right now, in fact, there are serious concerns that stored toxic materials are leaching into the northern California water table that connects with the Columbia River and the aquifer that feeds what eventually becomes part of the Colorado. The government is dragging its heels because of the great expense of rebuilding its containment facility in Washington that is the source of these leaks. Even in the East, the efforts to restore the Chesapeake have faltered and affected the crab and clam populations.

And we have barely scratched the surface. For those who care, it might help to remind people that no matter what they might imagine there is only so much potable water in the US, never more, and if we can't assure the purity of that supply we are in effect changing the course of our own lives.

Right now, even in the East--dare any of us remember Love Canal that was polluted by Hooker Chemical and then denied--we are seeing evidence of contamination and pollution of vital water systems; in these more obvious cases, the offending chemical tends to be mercury which is known to be a serious factor in the incidence of brain anomalies and other health problems; yet the industry claims that it cannot afford to clean up its own mess and the government debates it to death as the incidence of brain damaged youth seems to scale right off the charts. Meanwhile, everyone sits on their hands reserving judgment on their misplaced faith. Clearly, it will take a revolution in thinking to correct the wrongs that are staring us in the face; yet we go along our merry way naive to the challenges that are building and will confront us in the not too distant future.

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