Volume 3, Number 2

February, 2003

The
For years, nearly all Cambrians took water for granted. Few of us worried that this most vital and versatile resource had limits. Who dreamed that we would contaminate this resource with toxic wastes and who thought that burgeoning population pressures would place so much stress on the water cycle of our watersheds creating such resource conflict? Some fundamental issues concerning water will be decided in our community and indeed throughout the world in the next few dozen years. Unfortunately, some of these issues will be in the form of litigation. It is our understanding that the CCSD will spend over $1,000,000 a year for the next several years on attorneys specifically targeting the agriculture community who provides our area with food, open space, and wildlife habitat. The push to commodify water is real (have you looked at the price of a water meter lately?) and raises some very serious legal and ethical issues. The push to commodify this resource by corporate interests, banks, limited partnerships, and water purveyors typically comes at a time when the social, political, and economic impacts of water scarcity begin to destabilize communities. Consequently, enormous sums of money are spent to protect water rights and, in some cases, steal water rights. Meanwhile, on the global scale, determining the future of water, one of the earths most vital resources, is being discussed as if water was oil. At the annual World Economic Development Congress, which follows the annual International Monetary Fund/World Bank meeting, corporations and financial institutions met with government representatives from more than 84 countries to attend panels on such subjects as

Insider
Overcoming Obstacles to Water Investment and Navigating Transparency and Banking Regulation in Emerging Capital Markets. The agenda was clear: water should be treated like any other tradable good, with its use determined by market principles. Locally, the water we are asked to conserve and do without is not held in trust for drought, fire or for environmental purposes but rather, resold to the highest bidder. Again, look at what a water meter costs. The CCSD has enacted legal conditions to enable the commodification of water that clearly place agriculture, public safety, and the environment in harms way. Instead of allowing this vital resource to become a commodity and sold to the highest bidder, perhaps a more balanced approach would advocate that access to clean water for basic needs is a fundamental human right. Each generation must ensure that the abundance and quality of water is not diminished because of its activities. Greater efforts must be made to restore the health of aquatic ecosystems that have already been degraded as well as to protect others from harm. Principles to help guide humanity in protecting water might include: 1) Water belongs to the earth and all species. 2) Water should be left where it is wherever possible. 3) Water must be conserved for all time. 4) Polluted water must be reclaimed. 5) Water is best protected in natural watersheds and wetlands. 6) Water is a public trust to be guarded at all levels of government. 7) An adequate supply of clean water is a basic human right. 8) The best advocates for water are local communities and citizens. 9) The public must participate as an equal partner with government to protect water. 10) Economic globalization policies are not water sustainable. Credits and sources: BLUE GOLDThe Global Water Crisis and the Commodification of the Worlds Water Supply, 1999 by Maude Barlow California Water by Arthur L. Littleworth and Eric L. Garner Groundwater and Wells by Fletcher Driscoll California Water Code by the West Group, 2000 Edition World Watch. Privitazing Water, Jan-Feb 2003

A Small Battle in a Bigger War

The wars of the next century will be about water. The World Bank

The Hydrological Cycle

Earths Plumbing System
The growing sprawl of communities has profoundly altered the Earths hydrological cycle. Countless rivers, streams, floodplains, and wetlands have been dammed, diverted, polluted and filled. These components of the hydrological cycle, which function as the Earths plumbing system, are being disconnected and plundered piece by piece.

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