The article in the url below outlines the problems caused by inequitable access to water around the world:
“Figures from other countries confirm the evidence: it is generally the poorest who pay most for what is one of the most essential of all natural resources. Water is in short supply for a large proportion of the world's people: about 1bn lack access to clean water and 2.6bn have no sanitation. An estimated 5,000 children die every day from water-related disease, according to WaterAid, the London-based charity.”
The article argues that it is inefficiencies in the distribution of water among communities that is the problem, rather than the availability of the resource in the world as a whole:
“… as each shower of rain serves to remind, water is just about the most renewable natural resource. The problem is its distribution - not only the climatological patterns that leave some places parched while others flood but also the way societies manage their water resources.”
It is inadequate distribution and inequitable access that leads to the huge price differentials paid by different communities for the same product (fresh water). Finding a solution and being able to price water to reflect its availability would go a long way to conserving supplies and solving many of the problems highlighted in the article:
“This is hardly a problem confined to the developing world. Farmers in Spain are estimated to pay a price for water that is only about 2 per cent of its real cost. Rice and wheat farmers in California's central valley use one-fifth of the state's water but the low prices they pay represent a yearly subsidy estimated at Dollars 416m for 2006.”
Some of the statistics associated with water consumption are amazing and reflect the under-pricing of this vital resource:
“… the price of many goods sold around the world shows that the water that went into their production was very cheap. A pair of jeans that sells for a few pounds uses up to 11,000 litres of water, according to Waterwise, a UK not-for-profit organisation. A hamburger that sells for less than a dollar requires more than 2,400 litres of water to produce.”
Take care
Dave
Bill Werther & David Chandler
Strategic Corporate Social Responsibility
© Sage Publications, 2006
http://www.sagepub.com/Werther
A costly thirst: Proper pricing of water could ease shortages.
By FIONA HARVEY
1824 words
4 April 2008
Financial Times
London Ed1
Page 9
http://us.ft.com/ftgateway/superpage.ft?news_id=fto040320081337067027
