Hat Tip to Beth, and Maude Barlow. Beth because she's brilliant, and points me in the right direction on things I should know, and Maude, because she's been following this particularly important topic for years. Try Ms. Barlow's book, Blue Gold, dealing with the privatization and commoditization of water around the globe. If this doesn't scare you, you're dead.
A dear friend and mentor pointed out to me a few years ago her theory: the next "world conflict" would be about water. I would have laughed, but she already had a history of being right about a scary amount of topics. I studied. I researched...
And figured she was probably right, but maybe about a decade ahead of her time. Not unusual with really smart people; they see the trends while the rest of us grope around in the dark. I kept up with the latest and greatest, and didn't worry overmuch about it...
Until Beth found this interview on Alternet.org. And, yes, it's about WATER. Plain old drinking water. That stuff out of your tap, or your Dasani bottle...
And we're running out of it, at a dangerous pace. Like, next 2-3 years kind of pace. I have a lot of choices here, so I'm gonna start with what you should know, no matter what you are told by anybody else:
You - you personally - need to drink 1/2 ounce of water for every pound of body weight that you weigh. Every Day. No fail; this is what will keep you hydrated. You can up it a bit if you want to lose weight, but the hard and fast rule is 1/2 ounce per pound of body weight. DO NOT let anyone tell you otherwise. Lately I've seen several articles published - by fairly reputable, or at least widely-read publications - saying you don't need all that.
They LIE, to paraphrase Joe Wilson. They lie, and they're wrong. Go ahead, Google it. If it doesn't scare you, you're not listening yet. Pay attention. I'm gonna leave all the "black helicopter/conspiracy" crap out of it; but think how useful it would be to get people used to drinking less of what you KNOW DAMN WELL we're running out of? Okay, here's what I know:
California is planning no less than THIRTY desalination plants for the state - right NOW; that would be the "shovel-ready" type of planning. They know they're on the cusp of running short of water for basic life-support.
Michigan, in an ever-deeper drilling effort to reach the Olagalla aquifer (one of the biggest in the northern hemisphere, now vastly depleted), has started pulling up Lake water... as in Lake Michigan. As in, they're now drinking Lake Michigan, and the Olagalla is depleted near the empty point. And Michigan, from a population standpoint, is declining.
Wanna know if we're "over-drilling" for water? Google "sink holes". Water is what holds up the crust of the earth, and keeps us from falling down into it - water. Everywhere we've depleted, in the name of expanding population (see Mexico, Germany, etc.), there are sink-holes. BIG ones.
The Pentagon has assembled a brain trust to study the future of water; their results are titled "Global Water Futures", and involve such notables as Sandia Labs, Lockheed Martin, Coca Cola, Proctor and Gamble, and the Center for International Studies. These guys KNOW we're gonna get thirsty.
What's GE doing about it? Dow Chemical? They've focused a boat-ton of money and time on recovering and cleaning used water. These folks don't invest unless there's a very good - read, profitable - reason.
Last point: remember T. Boone Pickens? Made a fortune in natural gas, right? For the last 15 years, he's been buying water rights, anywhere he can get 'em. Worth a thought - this is a rich guy who follows his gut, and it's been right for a couple generations now. When this guy buys stuff, I research.
So should you.
Remember the "tap water" campaign? Tap water is okay to drink! Really! It's safe! You don't know what those bottlers are doing!
Try salmonella. Try cholera. Try recent outbreaks of both diseases in major cities (google Glendale, Arizona, for a recent rash). Try living in Chandler, Arizona, where the water literally comes out of the tap in chunks. Bottled water is WAY okay compared to that crap. Floaties in my water? Thanks, but no.
Okay, two "takeaways" for you. If you get nothing else out of this blog, realize that if you live in the southwest, or in southern Cally, you NEED TO MOVE. Sorry, that's all there is to it. Move out. Get out, while you're still hydrated. Do it soon. Hell, it's not like your home value's gonna come back, is it?? Pack. Go.
If you want to survive this crisis, you have to learn to capture and re-use water. In your home. Period. Google cisterns, water buffaloes, bleaching and boiling. FIND WATER, and keep it. The southwest and other desert-type areas are NOT fit for human habitation - that's why only the Mob would invest in the first place!
If you want to make money, invest in public utilities that actually OWN the water rights they utilize. This is important. Further down that road, if you're gonna homestead, buy a plot that INCLUDES water rights. They're going to be fought over - sooner than you think. If you're gonna break away from a city, and go it on your own (honestly, not a bad idea overall), get the DAMN WATER RIGHTS on your deed. I can't stress this enough.
What happens when you turn on the tap and nothing comes out? Where I live, power outages don't even make the local newspaper; no electricity, no water pump, no water. God love buckets and cisterns. Are you ready?
Brutal Truth
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