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Chapter 6: Water Conservation
hundred and twenty-two countries, including China, Russia, precedent into the American landscape, with its water-dependent
Germany, France, Spain and Brazil, supported the [water is a “breadbasket” of farms and isolated desert cities such as Las Vegas,
human right] resolution, and many of those that abstained said and you get a sense of the enormity of change on the horizon.
they would revisit their opposition if the Human Rights Council
were to weigh in with a similar resolution.” The support the Impending H2O Shakedown
resolution received that day demonstrated that the world was
finally moving to address the issue. The countries that voted in For decades, fresh water has been treated like an infinite resource,
favor represent 5.4 billion people. provided at almost no cost to farms and industry. The U.S. West
has just suffered the worst drought in 800 years. In the Midwest’s
Barlow adds that in June 2012, the water as a human right heavy farming areas, the backup system of tapping groundwater
argument took a major step forward: “After a strenuous campaign, is coming to an end. Water is about to get a lot more valuable.
the rights to water and sanitation were included in The Future We
Want, the official statement of the summit. Even Canada, the last Author Steve Maxwell (The Future of Water) explains:
holdout, signed the document, signaling the end of the debate.” “Farmers generally pay almost nothing for their water, for one of
three reasons: first, because in many regions that water simply falls
What does such political wrangling mean in the real world of out of the sky onto their fields; second, because they can pump the
water access and conservation? It makes access to water a legal water out of an aquifer below their fields without paying for it, and
entitlement, not a “charity,” or commodity that can simply be sold off they don’t have to replace it; or third, because they get their water
to the highest bidder. In principle, everyone who depends on a given from a government-built reservoir or other subsidized water project.”
water source is entitled to a say in how it’s used. Now, carry that But those aquifers are running low. Once they’re dry, they may
A Long Way to Flow
Hot Spots. Fresh water picks up pollutants and excess nutrients from a wide range of human sources, often with negative
environmental impacts.
