As we've posited in this space before, water will be the oil
of the 21st century. In what way? Its value, its
scarcity, its requirement for development. It will also be
more valuable than oil in that, unlike oil, we have no way to
replace its role in the world; there is no wind or solar substitute
for water.
This matters to us as world citizens, of course, but it also
matters acutely to us in the land use space. Securing clean
water access and clean water rights will benefit the
forward-looking developer, corporate end user and local government.
Paradigms and tools like relocation (water-intensive breweries from
the parched West to North Carolina), contractual arrangements,
public-private partnerships, interlocal governmental cooperation
agreements could serve to ensure a more prosperous and stable
future for entities and individuals.
The New Yorker published a very good piece this week entitled, "A Thirsty, Violent World". In
the article, author Michael Specter notes that in the past century
"the population [of the Earth] has tripled, and water use has
grown sixfold." Mr. Specter predicts that
"[f]eeding a planet with nine billion residents will require
at least fifty percent more water in 2050 than we use today",
though climate change, pollution and use make it "hard to see
where that water will come from".
Mr. Specter, and others, predict that "water wars" are on
the horizon.
"If you took a bath last night, you killed this tree."
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