Price of Blue Gold

Price of Blue Gold
By Hannah Kim

``Shall We Drink Pee?" is one of the chapter titles in professor Robert Glennon's provocative book, ``Unquenchable: America's Water Crisis and What to Do about It." He contends, ``We can't afford to take anything off the table and that includes indirect potable reuse water that is very safe when the proper filtration systems are in place."

The chapter highlights the plight of San Diego, a city that has debated for almost two decades the use of the ``toilet-to-tap" water as an alternative source of replenishing the reservoirs for its drinking supply. No matter how cogently the local water authorities, academics and private business experts all argue that it is safe, affordable and necessary, that the reverse osmosis procedure will re-purify the water to be tastelessly clean, the ``yuck factor" apparently requires a lot more flushing out.

But San Diegans may have to seriously consider the reuse water. Last summer the city declared a ``Level 2 Drought Alert," which enacted many mandatory and permanent restrictions such as when to water the lawn and how often servers should refill the water glasses for their diners. And this is San Diego, Calif., the seventh-most populous and ninth largest American city rated once as the fifth best place to live and ranked the fifth wealthiest city in the U.S., which of course is one of the richest countries in the world.

Normally when we hear about lack of access to clean water ― whether it is due to water scarcity or shortage ― we conjure up images of the poor in developing nations. Most of us live in places where water flows gratuitously when we turn on the faucet. But San Diego illustrates that urbanites are not exempt from the looming global water crisis. In a world that is ``hot, flat, and crowded" (according to Thomas Friedman), the problem is severe.

To begin with, we are polluting, depleting and diverting our already meager freshwater supplies far quicker than can be replaced, creating droughts and deserts in once-fertile areas. Moreover, water usage increased six fold while the population only doubled. The United Nations projects nine billion people by 2050 and the water supply cannot keep pace. Yet already one in eight of us on the planet lack access to safe, clean drinking water.

Our insatiable taste for better-than-tap water in the cities has also led to a risky global glut of bottled water consumption. Speculation of worldwide demand rising to more than 280 billion liters annually by 2012 have triggered what is being dubbed as the blue gold rush of the multi-million dollar bottled water industry. Some actually shell out $40 for Bling h20, a 750 milliliter bottled water (``decked out in swarovski crystals and corked like a bottle of champagne") and almost $35 for a 2-ounce. bottle of Kona Nigari (desalinated deep sea water collected from 2,000 feet below the surface of the ocean off Hawaii). Acqua di Cristallo Tributo a Modigliani (the 24k gold-coated bottled water) sold earlier this month at a whopping $60,000 for a 1.25 milliliter bottle. Gulp. And just $20 can give one person in a developing nation clean water for 20 years.

Obviously it is vital we recognize the true value of water and stop taking it for granted. Sure, the mere concept of drinking treated sewage water is odorous. But sooner or later, and one way or the other, even we in the developed nations will have to confront the predicament of water profligacy and shortage and the consequences for all of mankind. So thank goodness for World Water Day (March 22) because bringing attention to the global water crisis to find a solution together is one of its chief aims.

In 1998, just after retiring from Congress, Illinois Senator (and a Korean War veteran) Paul Simon authored ``Tapped Out: The Coming World Crisis in Water and What We Can Do About it." The story goes he traveled to Somalia and saw people dying due to lack of clean drinking water, and has not stopped tackling this problem since. Though now deceased, the Senator Paul Simon Water for the World Act of 2009 exists in the current Congress, in his honor. Its goal is to establish the capacity to meet the U.N. Millennium Development Goal on increasing access to water and sanitation by 2015. If we succeed in meeting the targets, 203,000 fewer children will die in 2015.

Says Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger: ``No water, no work, no life" (as he declared a water shortage emergency in my home state, California). The governor is right: ``Water is like our gold and we have to treat it like that." From San Diego to a small town in Somalia, communities across the globe must wring out ways to rebuild the infrastructure and develop as many water conservation and reserve capabilities as possible so that everyone on the planet has clean water. As an individual, you too can contribute now: Conserve. Donate. Advocate.

``When the well's dry, we know the worth of water" penned the sagacious Benjamin Franklin. Hopefully we are wise enough to realize the value of blue gold before we pay a high price.

Hannah Kim is a 2009 master's graduate at the George Washington University Graduate School of Political Management, specializing in legislative affairs. She spearheaded the passage of the ``Korean War Veterans Recognition Act, U.S. Public Law 111-41." which was signed by President Obama on July 27, 2009. She can be reached at hkim@remember727.org.

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