Water Triumphs

Last month, NASA's Mars lander, Phoenix, radioed its last message back to Earth. The message was "Triumph," meaning that the lander had confirmed the existence of water on the planet Mars. How will history record the importance of this event, which came at the same time as Barack Obama was elected President of the United States?

Back here on Earth, we are reminded of how precious water has become. Fresh water accounts for just 3% of all Earth's water. By some estimates, water is a $500 billion industry.

Note these points excerpted and condensed from an article entitled "How to Quench the World's Thirst" by Alexandra Alter in the November 8-9 edition of the Wall Street Journal:

• Geopolitical experts warn that water scarcity poses not just a public health risk but also a threat to global security.
• 1.1 billion people, one-sixth of Earth's population, lack safe drinking water.
• Global water consumption is growing at unsustainable rates, doubling every 20 years.
• International Alert, a London-based conflict resolution group, lists 46 countries with a combined population of 2.7 billion that have a high risk for violent conflict over water in the next two decades.
• 75-80% of surface water in India, China or Russia is too polluted to drink, bathe in or fish in.
• The U.S. exports about a third of its water as "virtual water"--meaning the water used to produce goods like cars and computer chips.

Included above are several points from an interview with Maude Barlow, the United Nation's first senior adviser on water issues.

No wonder, then, that the eight states and two Canadian provinces bordering the Great Lakes, which contain nearly 20% of the world's fresh water, recently signed the Great Lakes compact. Almost 10 years in the making, the compact restricts diverting water from the five lakes, their connecting channels and the St. Lawrence River.

Consider yourself forewarned. Access to fresh water is going to become a BIG issue in our lives.

Quick Vue Spotlights
Here are two videos which add perspective. The first is a cut from MSNBC's coverage of the discovery of water on Mars. (Hint: For quickest vue, advance the cursor halfway.)

The second video will tell you about efforts in Kazakhstan to revive the Aral Sea. The former Soviet Union diverted 75% of the water from the Aral Sea to grow cotton. The Sea shrank and split into two parts, leaving behind what the International Herald Tribune described as a "mineral stew that unleashed disease and poverty onto the hundreds of villages and cities in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan that once lived off its bounty." The World bank and the Kazakhstan government have completed a dam to revive one of the two smaller lakes. This video will give you a great overview of what it looks like when you deplete a sea--complete with haunting images of abandoned vessels sitting on land that was once under water--and then try to revive it. It's a hopeful sign.