Former Alaska Gov. Walter Hickel, who was sometimes a visionary, said Alaska one day would be the OPEC of fresh water.
Wally dreamed of a pipeline to carry Alaska’s water to the thirsty parts of the American West. His point was well-taken. Oil, as a commodity, is replaceable with new technologies. But there’s no substitute for fresh water. It’s the ultimate commodity, more valuable than even food.
That’s why private companies, like Philadelphia’s Aqua America, are snatching up municipal water utilities on the premise that the private sector can provide services at a fraction of the cost of government.
But here’s the catch. Aqua America’s water tastes lousy. Customers of the company no longer drink what comes out of the spigot. They go to the grocery store and buy cases of bottled water. Citizens don’t complain much about the arrangement, as their taxes went down, they’re going to the grocery store anyway, and bottled water doesn’t cost that much.
Then comes this week’s CNN story that tests by a California nonprofit found high levels of arsenic in brands of bottled water sold at Walmart and Whole Foods. “The study corroborates Consumer Reports’ findings, released earlier in 2919, that found Penafiel and Starkey waters contained nearly double the federal limit of arsenic,” CNN reported.
Why should we be concerned?
Water is the basis of life. Planets without water don’t support life as we know it. It’s recommended that people drink more than a gallon of water each day to stay healthy. So it’s questionable why we would trust our fresh water to anyone operating on the profit motive. If you’re operating for profit, the greatest good is the lowest quality water at the highest possible price.
That’s commercialization of water. It’s yet another manifestation of a form of runaway capitalism that serves the rich and few others. Wealthy folk will always be able to afford the cleanest, most expensive water. Poor folk, not so much. You needn’t look any further than Flint, Mich. to understand the economics and inherent injustice of this issue.
To the victor, goes the water.
Here in Haines, Alaska, we’re still blessed with plentiful, good-tasting water. You can even get it free at the Mud Bay spring, at least for now. The borough’s water is good enough to drink straight out of the tap. But it would be a mistake to believe that will last forever. Trends down south eventually make their way north. We all live downstream, literally and figuratively, even on the Last Frontier.
Twenty years ago, Alaskans boasted that Alaska’s wild fish runs were still intact, that they were managed better here than in the Lower 48, that we had escaped the mistakes that had been made elsewhere. Today, we’re learning that may not be true. Some of our wild fisheries are in peril.
A group of activists, educators and indigenous people met in Haines this week for “Aquasension,” billed as three days of heart-centered ceremonies and blessings of sacred waters, including the Chilkat River. Speakers at the event spoke of the need for people to fight for the earth’s waters, politically, spiritually and in other ways.
As our glaciers melt off with climate change, as our winter snowloads diminish and our river levels drop, as our waters warm and our salmon runs shrink, Aquasension’s message seems both timely and appropriate. We should heed it.
Clean, fresh water is our planet’s most valuable natural resource, and the supply is finite.