Part 2 – In Her Wake, the Ground Grew Thirsty
The HorseWoman of Water is sister to the Horseman Famine and a distant cousin to Pestilence. This HorseWoman devastates the landscape and raises your water bills. Here in the United States, we take the simplicity of water for granted. Right now, this very minute, there are people who are suffering because they can’t get access to drinkable water. As our water supplies are being contaminated, fighting breaks out globally for access to fresh, clean water. The next investment opportunity will be to invest in water, and in those that provide it and distribute it. How has this HorseWoman touched every living soul on this planet – read on and find out.
As I was doing the extensive research for this article, it astounded me that the problem was as far reaching and intense as it really is. On Earth, we do not have unlimited water supplies and the amount of water that is drinkable is only one hundredth-thousandth (0.00001%) of the total found on Earth. It’s not just an overseas problem. Imagine turning on your tap and finding the water brown-blank. That’s what has been occurring to families in West Virginia, Montana, Wyoming, and across this country. Contamination from coal mining processes, landfills, and oil drilling processes has been seeping into the groundwater for decades causing a multitude of health problems. There are multiple outstanding court disputes arguing over this contamination issue, and our government even has a name for them – “Super Funds.” Super Funds are so named because only the federal government would have enough money to potentially clean them up.
You ask, “But, how does this affect me?” As drinkable and usable water becomes harder to obtain, the prices of the goods that are made using water go up as well as your water bill. As a working mother in Southern California, I have to take the pleas from my local government seriously on conservation. My water bill for this summer is 20% higher than last year. Plus, if I go over the allotted amount of water that we have been rationed (they call it the “20 Gallon Challenge”), the cost for that extra water is premium. Southern California is mostly desert, so our water actually comes from the Colorado River. The river is supposed to sustain everyone along the way before it reaches the ocean. It is taxed so much from overuse that it dries up before it reaches the ocean.
Where does our water go? Well, if you have a well-manicured lawn with conventional grass, about 30% goes to water it. If you have a pool, you lose about 7,700 gallons a month to evaporation. If you play golf, it averages about 3,350 gallons of water for each round that you play. In the United States alone, 4,839,678,000 gallons are used to maintain golf courses across the nation. Irrigation and agriculture accounts for the largest of the water users. The amount of water it takes to grow and produce one pound of coffee is 2,500 gallons; that’s 37 gallons per cup.
Here is a disturbing fact if you buy bottled water. Do you realize that the water that we buy in those small bottles with fancy exotic sounding names are more expensive then the equivalent in tap water and actually come from “Municipal Sources,” meaning the water from them is only just tap water. Plus, at $1.40 per 20oz. bottle, that makes a gallon of water $8.96 and it takes 5 gallons of water to produce the plastic bottle that it comes in.
The United Nations (U.N.) has taken a serious look at this issue, even so much as to hold a “Conference to Combat Desertification of the Earth.” 10-12 million hectares are lost every year and is increasing rapidly. Desertification means that the soil will no longer support life. Conflicts are arising due to the scarcity of water resources. Conflicts are arising in Mexico, Uruguay, Egypt, Ethiopia, Sudan, Turkey, Iraq, Syria, Israel and the Palestinian territories, Darfur, India and Pakistan, and domestic distribution problems in China. 1.1 Billion people worldwide (1 in every 6) are without access to clean water. It is estimated that by 2025 that number will increase to 5.3 Billion.
In a later article, I’ll give tips and tricks on how to reduce your water consumption and how you can take action locally. Stay Tuned for Part 3 – The HorseWoman of Energy
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