2009: Sweet or Sour Water?
December 29, 2008
In Maude Barlow’s seminal book of 2007, ‘Blue Covenant: The Global Water Crisis and the Coming Battle for Water’, she provides several rather startling statistics:
1. 1.1 billion people on the planet have no access to clean drinking water – FACT
2. The World Health Organization has found that contaminated water contributes to 80 percent of all sickness and disease world wide. Half of the world’s hospitals beds are occupied by people with an easily preventable waterborne disease.
3. In China, 80 percent of the rivers are so polluted they no longer support aquatic life …. (hmmmm. will this be a ‘bargaining chip’ used to ‘extend credit’ to a failing global economy heavily dependent on Chinese manufacturing ????)
4. By 2050, based on population growth of 3 billion people, humans will need an 80 percent increase in water supplies to feed and hydrate themselves.
5. In 2006, 200 billion litres of bottled water were consumed globally – a 200% increase since the 1970’s.
6. For the price of one bottle of Evian, the average American could buy roughly 4,000 litres of tap water. [See No.3 above …]
7. Less then 5% of plastic water bottles around the world are recycled.
…. ouch …. What to do?
1. In North America, drink local tapwater.
2. Be POLITICALLY vigilant about local water sources and YOUR public utilities.
3. STOP POLLUTING water systems. Get ACTIVE against polluters.
4. And do NOT drink ‘privatized’ corporate water in plastic ‘throw-away’ non-recyclable bottles …
Maude Barlow is National Chairperson of the Council of Canadians and recently appointed Senior Advisor on Water Issues to the President of the General Assembly of the United Nations. She is also author of ‘Blue Gold: The Water Crisis and the Commodification of the World’s Water Supplies (1998).
For more information, consider these websites:
http://www.blueplanetproject.net/Alternatives/index.html
http://www.youtube.com/WomensEarthAlliance
Happy New Year All.
Be the Best you can be.
Canadada
December 30, 2008 at 7:40 am
Water is the very core and symbol of life. When that very water is becoming scarce, how can we wish a happy new year 2009, unless we all on the globe pledge to do something differently to avoid this Life crisis?
We human species are the most destructive on this Earth and soon we pay a price for that. Our children no more be there to see the green and life on this earth. We need not save the Earth. Earth knows whAt to do. The earth simply wipes out this most unlearning unchanging destructive human species from its face and it ‘ll carry on with the mission. Human species are not indispensable on this earth. We human species are most greedy and we are simply looting and polluting this earth EVERY MINUTE without any sense or sensibility. We have long back gone numb. Can the LAST HOPE change us?
LET’S HOPE FOR THE BEST, LET’S DO BEST, HAPPY NEW YEAR 2009!
Thanks Canadada for an eye-opening punch in the post there on the new year-eve.
January 5, 2009 at 1:59 pm
If “GLOBAL WARMING” is REALLY taking place, Greenlanders should make a fortune collecting and filtering the melted Ice cap and selling the bottled water to China, sounds like an excellent business opportunity to me.
C replies: What makes you think they aren’t? Turkey is. Governments in collusion with corporate interests are ”privitizing’ water all over the planet. Many are now ’selling’ a limited natural resource that is equal to air for our basic health. You clearly believe fresh water should be ‘privatized’. I wonder if your kids will thank you for that one.
In simple terms, if you aren’t part of the solution, you’re really part of the problem …
January 5, 2009 at 6:42 pm
“…if you aren’t part of the solution, you’re really part of the problem …”
That would only be true if there were a problem. Oil is a “natural resource” and that is sold by HUGE multi-national corporations. Copper Ore, Silver Ore, and Iron Ore are all natural resources, all of which are traded. If a soverign nation has an abundance of a natural resource it only makes sense to sell it to a nation that has a limited supply.
Selling water creates jobs which grow economies. Also there is an abundace of sea water (71% of the planet is ocean), the technology is availble to de-salinize it, this planet is in absolutely no risk of running out of water – or ANY natural resource for that matter.
C replies: Imagine you are stranded in a desert with 3 others …
You have fresh clean water, the three others do not.
What will happen?
Will you ’sell’ your water to those who are dying of thirst? – ??
What if they don’t have the ‘money’ to pay you in the desert?
Or will they just jump you and take ‘your’ water?
It is naive and uninformed to believe that the world has infinite resources. It does not.
January 5, 2009 at 7:44 pm
Heres a table for you to ponder;
http://www.worldwater.org/data20062007/Table3.pdf
If you look into the numbers, the VAST majority of Democratic countries have excellent access to water, yet the socialist and dictatorships do not….I wonder why that is? Perhaps the Socialists and Dictator led nations just do not care about the people as much as democracies do. The UN should banish Socialism and promote Democracies-this way all people on the planet would have access to safe drinking water.
C replies: Thank you for that out-of-date chart.
I did also note the ‘disclaimer’. Did you?
Quote: “Access to water, as reported, does not imply that the level of service or quality of water is “adequate” or “safe.” In other words, the chart gives some very loose indication of ‘volume’, not quality.
Socialism is an ideology, not a form of government.
Likewise, living in a ‘democracy’ does not ‘GUARANTEE’ anything …
January 8, 2009 at 8:47 am
Let’s consider the OTHER p.o.v. ….
You are stranded in a desert iwith 3 others.
You don’t have any water, but one of the others does.
You and the two others are literally dying of thirst.
What will you do?
Wait on that one person’s ‘charity’? Attempt to ‘negotiate’ some act of ’sharing’?
Or will you just gang up & take what you three need to survive?
Add this.
You are the only one of the four with a gun.
Now what?
January 11, 2009 at 9:29 am
@Canadada:
So let me get this straight…
1) A lot of people don’t have clean drinking water.
2) Lots of people drink dirty water and get sick.
3) China pollutes its water and makes it undrinkable.
4) Future = more people, more people = more water.
5) In 2006 a lot of people around the world drank bottled water.
6) Nobody recycles the bottles mentioned in #5.
So this is your solution:
1) Quit drinking water from bottles.
2) Make sure that your public utilities continue to produce water.
3) Don’t pollute the water. Don’t let your friends pollute the water.
4) Quit drinking water from bottles.
So, I am not quite sure how your plan is going to help the 1.1 billion people without water. Let’s say that you catch rain in your back yard with a trash bag that funnels into a bucket. And that is the water that you drink. So you are not buying the bottles and you don’t have to worry about recycling the bottles. You also are not giving any corporations money and you are not polluting. Good for you. But, again, how is that going to help people in Mozambique get water?
Since you are not drinking the bottled water (because you are collecting your own), are you going to let the Mozambiques buy the water instead? Of course, what if they can’t buy it? Are you going to start setting up multiple tarps and filling up multiple buckets and them mail them to all the Mozambiques? And of course, we should all do this because one person can’t do this, right?
Don’t drink bottled water. Maintain utilities. Don’t pollute. Don’t buy plastic bottles. Can you please explain to me how your 4 step plan is going to help all the water-needy people get water?
And then you come up with some sort of weird situation to DJ about survival. 1 bottle of water amongst 4 people. Should they share? Should they fight for it? Should they barter for it? WHAT?
First off, how long can we live without water. According to the Rule-of-Three, humans (on average) cannot last without water for more than 3 days. According to this site here (http://www.survivaltopics.com/survival/how-long-can-you-survive-without-water/) in 120F weather you will last 2 days without water. So of the 4 people, everyone is fairly sure to live a few days in the desert, with or without water. If the person with water does have a bottle of water (16 oz), then they will last 2 days as well. If they have 2 bottles, they last 2 days. If they have 3 bottles, they last 2 days. If they have 4 bottles, they last 2 days. It is not until they have 5 bottles where they gain a half day of life. 40 bottles would get him only 4.5 days in the desert. Wow. Not good odds in the desert there, for anyone!
But really, what is the answer to this life riddle Canadada? Are we to shoot the other 3 people so we can gain 2 days of possible life? Is that what you say is the only thing that could happen? We are humans, we want to survive, so we will kill to get water. Is that the only option here that you allow? And even if one kills (since they were dropped off in the desert with a gun and 1 bottle of water), then what does that have to do with people in the Congo getting water. Do you think that they should rise up and kill everyone to get water, just because they need it? What are you getting at? I don’t get it. Please explain.
How is DJ’s chart out of date either? It is 2006-2007. Guess what man… we JUST got into 2009. So that essentially makes this chart 1 year old. HARDLY outdated.
January 11, 2009 at 9:34 am
1) How much water does he have?
2) Why are we in the desert?
3) What is the likelihood of being saved?
4) What caliber does the gun shoot and how many rounds do I have?
5) Am I good shot?
5) If I shoot, is it possible that I contaminate the water with blood?
6) What does this life problem have to do with getting 1.1 billion people water?
January 11, 2009 at 12:39 pm
“Imagine you are stranded in a desert with 3 others …
You have fresh clean water, the three others do not.
What will happen?
Will you ’sell’ your water to those who are dying of thirst? – ??
What if they don’t have the ‘money’ to pay you in the desert?
Or will they just jump you and take ‘your’ water?”
You pose a very juvenille question. First and foremost, the human being will do whatever in his power to survive-naturally I would horde my water if it were, in fact MINE. I cannot fancy a situatioin where I would enter the desert with three friends and only bring 1 plastic bottle of water.
If I am toting say hundreds of gallons of water, I would most definetly share my water with those in the desert with me as they probably contributed to the purchase of the water BEFORE we left.
Regarding your last question, I suppose it is possible that they could in fact “jump me” and steal the water-although I cannot imagine why they would being that we had plenty for our trip across said desert to begin with.
I fail to see how your sceanario relate to the topic.
“It is naive and uninformed to believe that the world has infinite resources. It does not.”
What proof do you have of this? The Billions of people currently calling Earth home have yet to exhaust a single resource, New oil and natural gas reserves are found quite frequently, Coal is abundant, all ores are readily available, the planet is, as previously stated 71% water AND we have the ability to desalinize it. I suppose one cold argue that Farmland is a resource, and more and more of that is taken and turned into housing developments, but science has shown that we can produce more food per acre now than we could 50 years ago, so that basiclaly equals out. Actually, it is naive and uniformed to believe the planet does NOT have unlimited resources.
January 11, 2009 at 12:56 pm
“Thank you for that out-of-date chart.”
I hardly see how a chart a few years old is outdated. Please provide a more current chart supporting your conclusion.
“I did also note the ‘disclaimer’. Did you?”
Yes I did, and found it irrelevant, the leaders of the countries with “dirty” water are responsible for cleaning it and making it safe for their people-thats what happens in Democratic societies.
“Socialism is an ideology, not a form of government.”
1-a system of society or group living in which there is no private property b: a system or condition of society in which the means of production are owned and controlled by the state
2-social and economic doctrine that calls for public rather than private ownership or control of property and natural resources. According to the socialist view, individuals do not live or work in isolation but live in cooperation with one another. Furthermore, everything that people produce is in some sense a social product, and everyone who contributes to the production of a good is entitled to a share in it. Society as a whole, therefore, should own or at least control property for the benefit of all its members.
3-Any of various theories or systems of social organization in which the means of producing and distributing goods is owned collectively or by a centralized government that often plans and controls the economy.
4-The stage in Marxist-Leninist theory intermediate between capitalism and communism, in which collective ownership of the economy under the dictatorship of the proletariat has not yet been successfully achieved.
Four definitions, each indicating it is a form of gorvernance-NOT merely an ideology.
“Likewise, living in a ‘democracy’ does not ‘GUARANTEE’ anything …”
I never implied Democracies guaranteed anything only that Democrcies are more people oriented because the elected officials are more beholden to the people.
January 11, 2009 at 5:22 pm
… hmmmm … double-barrelled …
Gents – and others interested in this topic – kindly refer to links below. Thank you.
http://www.who.int/heli/risks/water/water/en/
http://www.undp.org/gef/05/portfolio/iw.html
http://www.amazon.ca/Water-Fate-Most-Precious-Resource/dp/0771026412
A little closer to home:
http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/grtlakes/related-links.html
The critical Great Lakes pollutants identified by the International Joint Commission (IJC) are polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), dichlorodiphenyl trichloroethane (DDT), dieldrin, toxaphene, mirex, methylmercury, benzo[a]pyrene (a member of a class of substances known as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons [PAHs], hexachlorobenzene (HCB), furans, dioxins, and alkylated lead.
These Persistent Toxic Substances are lipophilic so that they bioaccumulate in biota and biomagnify at successive levels of the food web (IJC, 1983; Hicks, 1996). The ATSDR Great Lakes Human Health Effects Research Program (GLHHERP) focused on these 11 critical pollutants as well as others toxic chemicals of concern, e.g., arsenic, cadmium.
—
Overall, this ‘issue’ is much greater then I am prepared to brow-beat here. DJ, (are you DJ-Jones, the lobbyist, btw?), Anonymous and Konfusing Kancer, I appreciate your contrarian points of view.
Thank you for stopping by. Enjoy your visit around ‘Canadada’ …
p.s. You may be interested on two other site posts:
http://canadada.wordpress.com/2008/06/01/who-is-responsible-for-the-global-food-crisis-article-alert/
http://canadada.wordpress.com/?s=World+Energy+Summit
Happy Hunting fellas … oh, and you might be interested in this short story about a bunch of people stranded on an island. Food and fresh water supplies are in short supply …
http://canadada.wordpress.com/2008/05/02/pov-ipo-another-short-story/
January 11, 2009 at 7:35 pm
I am NOT a lobbyist. I am an American citizen, Blue Collar Worker, retired US Navy Chief(Submarines).
January 12, 2009 at 9:00 am
First off, anonymous is me too, I forgot to add my info and it knighted me anonymous.
Secondly, you didn’t answer my questions. I will re-post since you casually missed both of them.
(1) Can you please explain to me how your 4 step plan is going to help all the water-needy people get water?
(2)What does this life problem have to do with getting 1.1 billion people water?
January 12, 2009 at 9:21 am
Canadada,
I have read the provided links, thanks for posting them. I would like to point out that the articles you provided are pretty one sided. I agree there are many countires around the world that don’t have access to freshwater (read clean and safe). I fail to see how me not drinking bottled water is going to improve the conditions in any of the “poorer countries”. You have UN and WHO articles that show how bad things are, yet nothing about what the UN or WHO are doing to help these poor impoverished nations.
With the exception of South Africa, there is really NO economic growth across the African continent. Why is that? THe US has dumped billions into Africa, what has your beloved UN done? NOTHING!!! History shows when a nation starts to improve economically, the health sanitation and education of the citizenry grows (The United States is a perfect example of this-Prior to FDR). Socialist/Globalist policies have failed around the globe, Despots, Dictators, Czars and Kings have continously driven their respective populations into the dirt for power and control. Yet “Free” countries seem to thrive, especially with a free market.
Perhaps it is time to dump the UN and let Free Markets and Capitalism work.
January 12, 2009 at 6:46 pm
…. My blog is at kylehuwer.wordpress.com. …
C replies: … Dear Canadada readers:
A link to Konfusking Kancer’s blog may be of interest to some of you … D.J. Jones, apparently, does not have a blog. I asked for his link and he didn’t supply one.
My New Year’s post was intended to draw attention to what will be an increasing GLOBAL ‘issue’, from my p.o.v., like it or not. Astronauts drink their own ‘recycled’ urine, so the ‘technology’ to ‘purify’ fluid resources is seemingly ‘available’. HOWEVER, that does not diminish the FACT that we, collectively, often unthinkingly squander the natural fresh water resources on the planet.
My POINT was to a)highlight some of the growing ‘trends’, and b)raise awareness about some ‘local’ initiatives to better ‘conserve’ groundwater and aquiver resources in North America.
As for ‘accessibility’, grinding poverty is one of the tangential issues related to water supply and demand. Is it ‘Right, for example, that ’soft drink’ producers have greater access to ‘village well water’ then the local citizenry? If ‘local’ ground & well water are contaminated, it not only encourages ‘external’ suppliers, but ultimately creates an inter-governmental economic dependency. This contractual ‘dependency’ can have profound reprecussions on the ‘needs’ of the local populace. Many NGO’s are now actively attempting to ‘counter attack’ these ‘water-for-profit’ trends. (See earlier links posted above.)
The dire poverty described above stands in marked contrast to the increasing ‘water needs’ of the American South West. Is keeping the Las Vegas fountains spewing and the uniform ‘front lawn grass’ growing, MORE important then the long term irrigation of farming fields around the Great Lakes basin, as an example? Who decides who has the Rights to this ”inter-governmental’ water body anyway? Seemingly, the SHORT TERM economic advantages of keeping Vegas ‘alive’, supercedes the less visibly tangible benefits of a healthy agricultural sector in the Northeast … Again, WHO will be making these ‘life & death’ decisions? Why can’t the American S.W. just ‘recycle’ its own urine and drink that? Why must they SHOP for fresh water from elsewhere? Ok, extreme point, but, seriously, THINK about it.
Overall, the more we can do to encourage the vigilant management and maintenance of LOCAL supplies, regardless of ANY presiding form of government, the less dependent we, as citizens of the planet, will be on ‘corporations’ or governments to ’sell’ us what we need to live. Cupping water from a clean fresh flowing stream is priceless. Literally.
My insert of the ‘desert’ scenario was to focus on the inevitable. Meaning, does anyone DOUBT that anyone will not TAKE what they NEED to live? In other words, increase your personal involvement and awareness of the uses and abuses of LOCAL fresh water resources. Understand who is increasingly inching in and laying ‘claim’ to it. And, please, stop drinking ‘corporate’ water, you’re just making it a whole lot easier for governments in conjunction with corporations to ‘take control’ of what is still, in North America anyway, a relatively available ‘fresh water’ resource.
By the way, plastic non-recyclable water bottles add nothing to the planet’s health – just in case you missed that point …
And with that, I’ll try this again, Happy New Year y’all!
THIS THREAD IS NOW CLOSED.
Go on now. Get out there.
Find out where YOUR water is coming from … FIND THE SOURCE.