It's time to wise up to water's incalculable value
28 Jun, 2010 By: Ron Hall i-newsTUCSON — Water expert Robert Glennon insists that we Americans must come to a more realistic understanding of the value of fresh water as an irreplaceable natural resource critical to every aspect of their lives. Only then will we embrace a range of water-conserving solutions to avert an approaching water-shortage catastrophe that has potential enormous unwanted consequences, both financial and societal.
Glennon, the Morris K. Udall Professor of Law and Public policy in the Rogers College of Law at the University of Arizona, made these and other comments during an hour-long presentation at the annual meeting of the Turf & Ornamental Communicators Association (TOCA) here this past May.
“I’m talking about the health of the American economy. Water lubricates the American economy just as does oil,” said Glennon, adding “we get water for less than we pay for cell phone service and cable television.”
Indeed, in most communities across the United States, fresh water is essentially free, and is often wasted as a result. Too many Americans take it as a birthright that water is for the taking, he said, which is reflected on water bills that merely cover the cost of extraction, treatment, and delivery and, surprisingly, in some instances anyway, barely enough for the repair, replacement and development of new water infrastructure. America must wake up and take serious action to address what will surely be a future with greater water scarcity.
Consider, he said, that there are few, if any, new sources of fresh water available for a U.S. population that’s expected to grow another 40% to 420 million people by 2050. Compounding that challenge, much of this growth and development is expected to occur in water-scarce regions of the country — the U.S. Southwest, Florida and north Georgia, which much share its water source with Alabama and Florida, for example.
And then, of course there is the hotly debated topic of climate change. Glennon said it is real and happening, and it will alter America’s and the world’s water picture.
In other words, the water that we now have is all that we’re ever going to get, and unlike oil, where there are substitute energy sources, there is no substitute for water, he said. There are no more rivers in the United States to dam, groundwater is being depleted at an unsustainable rate and the cost of developing new reservoirs and building desalination plants is astronomical.
The most obvious and least expensive source for “new water” will be what we conserve, he opined. We cannot rely upon technology and engineering to provide us with all the water that we will need in the future. We must view and treat water as a valuable commodity in our market-based system, but also as a fundamental human right whose availability and price are not solely determined by cold market forces.
the crucial role of water in our everyday lives — drinking, cooking, sanitation, growing food, manufacturing, energy production, etc. — society as a whole must come to realize its incredible value, and protect and use it more intelligently and efficiently That’s beginning to happen, he said, but much more needs to be done.
If you are interested in getting a more complete picture of water’s role in our lives and the issues surrounding our future consider reading two excellent books written by Glennon — “Unquenchable, America’s Water Crisis and What to do About it,” Island Press, 2009, and “Water Follies, Groundwater Pumping and the Fate of America’s Fresh Water,” Island Press, 2002.
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