West Palm
Beach, Florida - An epic drought in Georgia threatens the water supply for
millions. Florida doesn't have nearly enough water for its expected population
boom. The Great Lakes are shrinking. Upstate New York's reservoirs have dropped
to record lows. And in the West, the Sierra Nevada snowpack is melting faster
each year.
The Bush administration is helping multinationals buy US
municipal water systems, putting our most important resource in the hands of
corporations with no public accountability
I am amazed: since last summer, almost every day we see at
least one news story on another water crisis in the U.S. The water crisis is no
longer something that we know about as affecting developing countries or their
poor in particular. It is right here in our own backyard. Today, in many parts
of the U.S. we are nearing the limits of our water supplies. And that is getting
our attention. The writing has been on the wall for some time. The private
sector has been showing much interest in water as a source of profit, and water
privatization has been an issue in many parts of the country.
Demand for water is doubling every 20 years, outpacing population growth
twice as fast. Currently 1.3 billion people don't have access to clean water and
2.5 billion lack proper sewage and sanitation. In less than 20 years, it is
estimated that demand for fresh water will exceed the world's supply by over 50
percent.
The biggest drain on our water sources is agriculture, which accounts for
70 percent of the water used worldwide - much of which is subsidized in the
industrial world, providing little incentive for agribusiness to use
conservation measures or less water-intensive crops.
This number is also likely to increase as we struggle to feed a growing
world. Population is expected to rise from 6 billion to 8 billion by 2050.
