Two years ago, the movie, ‘Blue Gold: World Water Wars”[1] reported 87 [US] corporations are now heavily involved in Desalinization; the removal of Salt from Ocean water to make it drinkable. GE, PG & Dow Chemical are a few easily recognized names in the game. Apparently companies like these ”…see the writing on the wall and the writing on the wall is that water is the hottest commodity out there.” Two of many quotes from the movie stand out; A 30% return on investments for some is the “minimum required return.” ”The people will pay what they feel the value of that supply is worth.”
There are now hundreds of these desalinization plants in our world - the largest is reportedly the Jebel Ali Desalination Plant in the United Arab Emirates; putting out 300 Million Cubic Meters of water per year! [One cubic meter contains 264.2 US gallons of water x 300 Million is... 792,600,000,000 gallons or 792.6 Billion Gallons in one year or about 12 gallons of water per person on the planet. Do the math and see how little it would take to solve drinking problems anywhere in the world.
In order for free will-enterprise to continue; these companies are free to make and sell all the water they want, in fact according to most laws of the different lands- Once a company processes the water then they own it- "Water is a good investment anywhere in the world"- the difference of bottled water over tap water... is negligent - yet; with pollution comes opportunities for those so enabled to charge for cleanups.
However... it is not humane, it is not kind, it is not ethical, it is not caring and it is not fair nor is it equal; it is not conscionable to make people pay for a right to one of life's most basic needs! Every day tens of thousands of people are dying of thirst and many actually succeed, thousands and thousands more are drinking from terribly polluted water sources due to lake of following the simplest principle- pour for another what you would want poured for you-
Bottled water is not the answer to helping the drought or polluted water victims - investing in the permanent infrastructure for humanity to have clean fresh drinking water is. Spending billions of dollars on a plastic use it once throw it away landfill mountain maker and middle of the ocean island maker is NOT the answer to providing clean fresh drinking water- fixing the piping system is.
Do we have the technology to run pipes to hold and transfer water - of course we do and have for well over 100 years now- in fact we've been exporting ground water from one location to another and back again, but it's not helping the situation.
Example: Using water from an eco system in one location - piping it to another - exporting the crops it can now grow, that it couldn't previously, to another location and having it finally return to the origin; like apples in Washington state- Essentially we're growing crops for thirsty places then moving it back to its origin is not making good common sense.
It averages 99 liters of water to make an apple. Almost all apple juice now comes from China due to the USA loosing the ability to produce the apples here because the water is removed from the places we could grow them and shipped elsewhere in the country or globe, because others are willing to buy it at a commodity type price. It later ends up cheaper to buy it (the apple) than purchase the water which is (was) under their feet, because it can be sold for more to others not having as much as they want. It finally becomes cheaper to import it and sell for a profit than grow it natively!
70,588 liters for a bale of hay; 1.8 million liters for a bale of cotton. 30,240 liters for a 50lb bag of wheat. Flower plantations in Kenya are draining the lake Niavasha so fast they will put themselves out of business within a very short time. Because of water and people in desperate need of employment the residential population has blossomed from 7000 to 300,000 residents in 40 years and that is a lot of needed water [2] while at the same time; Blue Gold: World Water Wars reports they are being told by the World Bank to “export the water to get out of debt.” They apparently have not learned what the Soviets experienced in the Aral Sea - irrigation projects and exporting water by the tanker load- today it’s a desert.[3 & 4]
Ground water is disappearing because we’re aggressively putting a lid on the earths surface. There are solutions to paving huge sections of continents just to put in streets, shopping malls and parking lots- even permeable concrete and roadways have been developed; there are so many environmentally friendlier ways to do things for each other. We are destroying the earth and one another, for dirty money- it’s not making sense.
What once was free flowing now comes with a cost- water is not cheap – repairing the damage we’re doing to each other is not without cost. Can you see the signs being held up now? Instead of Will Work For Food soon it may be; Will Work For Water!
Can people really be saying this to their fellow human beings?
Laurence Summers – US Senate.
“For every dollar the US contributes to the World Bank, US Corporations receive $1.30 in procurement contracts.”[1]
The foundation of the World Bank was supposed to be based on the richer countries giving of their abundance, not of their all, to help the poorer countries be able to better sustain themselves. Instead we are making money off their backs; it’s like giving away Crack Cocaine for free in order to develop a customer who will buy our product once they are addicted and the product must be obtained and is no longer free. The Wiki definition is a slap in the poor countries faces “The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans to developing countries for capital programmes. The World Bank’s official goal is the reduction of poverty.[2]” Apparently the US investors make 30% more than they give the impoverished! So are they giving or stealing?
How do you reduce poverty while charging 30% interest on investments? People, Fix the problems first then worry about the profits!
Why do people need emergency aid in poor countries for the basic necessities of life?
Why are hydrologists being coined as hydrostitutes?
What are we doing to each other by extorting money from the poor? -
What’s next, Cloud seeding – paying to make it rain & cloud stealing on the horizon? Water Wars – Water Pirates – Water Privateers; it’s coming if we don’t do something about it.
For several years now there has been a Water Conflict map from the Dept of interior for 2025 – the point – securing future water. Water is fast becoming – the new oil which will need military defenses (?) to protect the corporations. Paraguay Parliament along with Brazil - pending military base around the Guarani Aquifer- water/land grabsin process. GWBush Family Purchasing 170K acres of land[5] and relatives owning more than 200K acres[1]- Brazil may become the middle east of water in the future if we let it.
The world’s efforts aren’t working…
Bechtel was kicked out of Bolivia – for it’s corrupt practices; A simple shoemaker – unitizing, organizing and mobilization of the people in front of a corporate power which cost many lives in the process.
Project Blue Alternative – water cachements – small holes by comparison to dams – the water is trapped and returns to the ground water systems.
Hydroponics 20-30 times more efficient than growing crops outdoors – water is placed directly to the roots- go back to a system that is not dependent on global exportations.
Alternative permeable pavement solutions- allowing water to filter through back into the ground.
Bolinas CA; learning to live within our watersheds.
Water is a Human Right – Uruguay – Amended their constitution to forbid privatization of water – making it a right to human life and cannot be charged for. SUEZ co, a.k.a. Algos De Balboa, was thrown out of Uruguay.
www.bluegold-worldwaterwars.com www.theendofpoverty.com
But the last drop – the very excuse the world continues to use to withhold natural resources from the unborn children’s mothers to the very oldest adults is simply an accounting term: A Cost Factor.[6]
Our Humanity as a whole is drying up when anyone values money over life – Bank accounts over desiccating children and their glass of water more than anyone else’s.
Until we wake up and realize the Cost Factor is not money but our True Humanity one to another, that of all human life and our own combined happiness, the problems will not be resolved; our world is FILLED with water – yet we perish, not because we have not but because we withhold the living waters from one another, let him that is athirst come and whosoever will, let him take the WATER of life freely.
Pour unto others as you would have them pour unto you – then once refreshed we can grow food together, provide shade for one another, heal all the sick and create no more criminals… all this for the cost of a glass of water; what’s the missing factor costing you?
