Water Wars - real or imagined?

I think you'll find a common theme in many of my posts. I don't trust large organizations, whether they are government, charities, or business. Last night I watched an interesting movie about water, titled Blue Gold: World Water Wars. The movie focused on the large water companies, and how they collude with small government to buy water and resell it, often out of the area where it is located. To the average person, this sounds like a far-fetched conspiracy. Having lived in Rockland County, NY, I see the reality behind the story.

Rockland County can no longer provide enough water for their rampant development, and United Water - Suez (a French company) is more than happy to install a high cost, resource intensive solution to meet the growing demand - a desalination plant. Never mind the PCBs, radiation leaks, Yonkers leaking sewage, or Riverkeeper's opposing position on the desalination plant. Rockland County will receive the highest priced water in the nation once this scheme is implemented.

As part of the continued isolation of the general population from water resources, most water companies used post-9/11 hysteria (more on this soon...) to fence in the reservoirs. This looked prudent, but what is the threat? I can see fencing the pumping stations, but how much contaminant would be required to poison a reservoir? You'd see the tanker trucks lining up long before the first drop ended up in in the water. Biological agents can't be deployed easily, and few would survive a short period of time in a large body of water with the sun shining. UV rays sterilize. So why are the reservoirs fenced?

We see many people move to the desert for the drier air, and then they recreate their lush landscapes in the desert. What is the impact to the hydration cycle? We are building golf courses in the desert, emptying aquifers, and not thinking of the long term effects of this. Water taken into an arid environment condenses in the arid environment, and at some point, will that area still be arid with millions of gallons of lawn sprinkler water heading into the sky and forming clouds? Where is the water coming from, and at what cost?

Droughts are a great opportunity for water companies, when people are conserving water, the water companies increases rates to make up for lower revenues to cover the infrastructure costs.

Be careful if you stand against the "progress" of our government selling our water to a corporation, or you may find yourself hit with a Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation, which scares citizens into not protesting for their rights. Or you may find yourself in a situation where your activism lands you on the Department of Homeland Security's terrorism watch list, like Mark Ruffalo, when he questioned what fracking for oil and gas will do to the water supplies.

I thought I had a solution. I started using rain barrels years ago to capture run off from our roof for watering our plants. I don't pay for the water, and the rains in NJ come frequently enough that even in a drought, I can usually get through the worst of the season without pulling my hose. It is a simple enough solution, but did you know that in many states, including Colorado, using a rain barrel to capture water is illegal, but you can buy water from the water company to water your lawn. They want the rain to run off your roof, and work it's way back to the reservoir in the water shed so they can resell it to you. If you don't own the water that lands on your roof, why should it be owned by a corporation?

What is the solution? I think one pearl in the movie was stated by the Alaska water guy - a three way partnership between government, corporations, and activists must be put in place to manage water resources. But this is only part of the solution. I also believe that we must bust up the big corporations, and put control of resources at as low a level as is practical. This model should apply to all utilities, since they are all part of the public good. I of course don't count cable television as a utility, so you will still pay a premium for that.

Small is best. Big is bad. Think small, and be a locavore. Go ahead, share this with your network using the buttons below.