#2 Desalinization

One of the leading causes of death worldwide, especially in impoverished areas, is water scarcity or diseases transmitted in polluted water supplies. The UN estimates that about 1.1 billion people are do not have adequate access to safe drinking water, and an additional 1.5 billion do not have adequate water for sanitation purposes. Groundwater overdraws are creating sinkholes, ruining the very fields they are meant to nourish, and occasionally polluting the wells themselves (“Groundwater Drawdown”, an article by Kally Worm from Evergreen State College, goes much more in depth). In Mexico City, which is built on an old lake bed, and whose water supply consists entirely of an underground aquifier, overpumping is resulting in a depleted aquifier. This in turn is literally sucking Mexico City down. Parts of the city have fallen by as much as 25 feet in the last century. The Colorado River has not reached the ocean for decades, and several of its basins are below 50% of their capacity.

Free-market economies tend to be exactly as forward-thinking as they need to be. Hybrids did not start getting made until people would start buying them, and even then many models bombed. Huge investments in expensive technologies that are not cost-efficient and are not immediately necessary do not fit into the free-market theory. The problem is that water shortages are huge problems for modern societies. Lack of adequate water often means a contamination of the basic water supply, which in turn means disease outbreaks. These things tend to happen in the larger population centers, and they also happen quickly. But since predicting when they will happen is tricky business, it is not an immediate priority for private business. Which is why we have a federal government.

We need to appropriate funds for massive investments in desalinization technology. Desalinization is the removal of salt from water. It allows us access to a limitless water source. I guarantee you that in a hundred years, desalination plants will be as common as hospitals. But right now they are not cost-effective, and they are riddled with environmental and logistical problems. It is ridiculous to expect a company, particularly in America, where we have a relatively stable water supply (though that may be changing, particularly in the Midwest), to lose money on a technology that is decades from being heavily implemented. But it is the government’s duty to spend enough money to make desalinization cheap enough that it is affordable worldwide. Unfortunately, that is only half the battle. Philanthropists and governments across the world need to begin to raise the money for construction of infrastructure in developing nations. Part of that infrastructure must include provisions for inland water supply.

I’m talking about billions of dollars being spent on something that we don’t need. This is not an easy sell, but it is also an issue that needs foresight, as well as a kick in the ass. It takes a human being less than a week to die of extreme dehydration, sometimes much less. But more than that, many economists and environmentalists have predicted that the next major conflicts will be fought over water supplies. North and South Korea, Israel and Palestine, Egypt and Ethiopia, these are just a few of the countries undergoing water disputes, and the United States’ vital interests are tied in with several of those nations. This is not a sexy idea, and if it is handled right, nobody will probably notice. So maybe it’s a bad idea. But waiting could be far worse. To paraphrase Yogi Berra, “it gets dry early out there.”