Friday round-up - drinking water, gasoline, and a little economics thrown in

In a previous post, Water Wars, real of imagined?, I wrote about how water sources are being grabbed up by large corporations. This water grab has contributed to states passing laws to ban the capture of roof run off from a rain storm, lest this act deprive the water company of the profit from selling it back to you. Colorado has finally seen the stupidity of this law, and is now allowing residents to capture the water that falls on their roof.

A couple of towns in NJ are trying to take back their water systems from American Water Company. The lease expired 7 years ago, but the corporation refuses to relinquish the system to the towns, claiming they have a perpetual right to the water system. Just so you understand this, pretend you hired a landscaper on a one year contract. At the end of the year, the landscaper claims that even though the contract is for a year, he has a perpetual right to provide you this service, and you must pay him for it.

In Brisbane, Australia, the recent severe flooding is causing fears that the water treatment facilities may be damaged. It seems ironic to have your town destroyed by water, and have none to drink. This is the risk when we hook up to the centralized water distribution system - if the system goes down, or is tainted with carcinogens like many US cities, you are stuck.

Stephen Horncastle, via Wikimedia Commons

Even living by a reservoir won't help you in many areas. We commoners are kept away from the water by fences. In some areas, reservoirs are being completed capped, and the cover is used for football fields and recreation. I wonder how this impacts the birds, fish and other plants and animals that rely on the water? Do you know where your drinking water comes from?

In Los Angeles, the bromate and chlorine used to treat the reservoir water was experiencing a chemical reaction when exposed to sunlight... yes sunlight, and elevating bromide levels which causes cancer. The solution was to dump 400,000 plastic balls onto the reservoir, blocking the sun and preventing the chemical reaction. Maybe they should figure out how to treat the water AFTER it is taken from the reservoir. I do plead ignorance as a scientist though, so maybe killing everything in the reservoir with chlorine, and making it undrinkable by most animals is the best option.

Other valuable liquids on our planet are becoming harder to purchase. Oil prices are now at $100 a barrel, which oil producing countries think is the fair market price. The pundits are saying that gasoline will hit as much as $5 a gallon by summer. You may want to pump up the tires on your bicycle. Here's a little tip for anyone who skipped economics in school. If prices rise, and demand stays the same or increases, the price is reset at the new higher price. When was the last time you saw prices come down on a commodity?


Maybe Tunisia should drill for oil, their citizens are rioting due to the sharp rise in food prices. The cited causes are increased demand, floods in Australia, Al Gore's mistaken support for corn-based ethanol subsidies, and poor leadership (which fled, how much poorer can a leader be than that?).  We can only hope other oppressed people step up to shed their rulers. 


Tomorrow is Saturday... such a gorgeous snow here in North Jersey. Maybe I can get a great ski in before all the snow melts.