In 15 Years Water Will be the New Oil...in Terms of Price

This isnt a psychic prediction, just an educated guess.

In college I had a surface water class in regards to my major. I had to write a paper at the end of the class on any topic I chose as long as it involved freshwater. As a googled different topics I was amazed to see how many conflicts came up over water rights and even battles fought over fresh water. This was in 2005. It was a topic I was always passionate about and have stayed researching since college. Several observations I have seen over the last decade lead me to believe the title of this thread.

1) Aquifers are not replenishing.
2) Fracking and other processes are contaminating fresh water.
3) Desert is the only expanding biome that I am aware of.
4) www.theverge.com... Places are spending huge amounts of money on infastructure for water. As well as in research.
5) I have been reading more and more on how energy companies are wishing to fine people for using solar/wind etc because they havent quite figured out how to balance the grid with people using these techs.
6) We have little to no infrastructure for the desalination of salt water option.

As the cost of energy goes down the cost of something else has to go up. Fracking surprisingly is working out well financially, but causing problems environmentally. I think in 15 years you will see the cost of water rise while the cost of energy goes down. This may not be a very impressive prediction, but its a topic that can really be split into other forums such as peak oil or conspiracy. Fresh water, like food, could really be used against us in several ways. In a nerdy way its one of my favorite topics that just doesn't quite make people worry as much as other topics. Perhaps we have enough to worry about....that reminds me of a great Jack Handy quote “Somebody told me it was frightening how much topsoil we are losing each year, but I told that story around the campfire and nobody got scared”

Enjoy! Another something to make you worry!

reply to post by cosmicexplorer

Let's face it. The corporations have enough people snowed to pay prices that are higher than gasoline to water in a bottle that has been proven again and again in tests to be more contaminated than average tap water.

Why couldn't they convince us that water is a rare commodity?

They already have..... when it isn't!

reply to post by cosmicexplorer


You know, I've read alot of these threads, and a lot of information regarding what some big companies are doing in other countries, regarding the water.

I am curious about what they will do with people like me, that live in the country and have our own wells. Turns out there is water at different levels, even just under our property.

Are they going to try to tax me? Will they by up land near me and the neighbors, and try to suck the water out from underneath us?

I would not go quietly with either scenario. And I don't understand why anyone would.

Fresh, potable water is rare in my part of the world (west Texas), so I'm fully aware of the issue. Water will become THE number one issue in the future for many areas around the globe. I first became aware of it in the 1980s when reading the now-classic "Cadillac Desert" by Marc Reisner. I grew up in southern California. Water wars in Cali have a very long and storied past, in which big metropolitan areas would deplete water sources sometimes hundreds of miles away in order to feed their growth.

The pipelines that drain water sources like the Feather River in northern California and ship it all the way to Los Angeles are old and vulnerable to breakage from an earthquake. They literally pump that water up and over the steep Tehachapi mountain range to feed LA's massive, insanely large population, which takes an insane amount of energy to do. In the early 1900s, it seemed like a triumph of man over his environment. Now, it seems very stupid. Imagine the panic if a large enough earthquake split those enormous pipelines in two and LA suddenly dried up like the desert that it really is.

Out here on the vast prairie, we are sparsely populated and our well draws from the Ogallala Aquifer, which is the remains from a massive underground glacier. It is nearly non-replenishable. T. Boone Pickens has purchased thousands of acres of land to the north of here and is using Texas' "Right To Capture" law to suck the aquifer dry and sell the water to the Dallas / Fort Worth area east of here.

Water companies around the world are setting up camp, stealing the fresh water, and bottling it at outrageous prices for sale.

Clean drinkable water will become very precious, so enjoy it now.

If they could figure out a way to charge us for breathing air, they would.

reply to post by chiefsmom


We may have talked before ....I made an off grid living thread recently seeking advice.....I do plan on living off grid if I stay in the USA or I may just leave the country all together...ive gone back and forth and have some time still to figure it all out. One of my biggest fears is going off grid to only have them come find me and force some kind of off grid tax. I know the energy company fines that are starting now are for people who are hooked into the grid and selling energy back to them. So far I have seen nothing on off grid living being taxed by I feel it could come some day.

Hence, in some foreign countries I could literally live in a hotel for $20 a day and I have deeply considered it....just living in a hotel haha.

reply to post by FissionSurplus


You make a great point...my next thread will be in 30 years the price of air will be greater than the price of water!

Eh I think we'd just become like other countries and have desalination plants everywhere. Then pipelines probably made of carbon nanofibers(By then the manufacturing process will hopefully be cheaper if governments don't stifle ingenuity through laws).

We'll be fine.

Do you really think that the oceans are going to dry up in 15 years? The hydrologic cycle isn't going to stop. There may be less clean water readily available in 15 years, but that only means that we'll have to build more treatment plants. Invest in water filtration technology now and be wealthy by then.

reply to post by cosmicexplorer


Problem is they said that back in 1970. Fast forward to 2013.... Nothing!
Mind you they said oil was running out as well.

reply to post by cosmicexplorer


Hell, yes!

But...but, it already is!

Have you priced a liter of water lately at the supermarket?

reply to post by Aliensun


No I havent but im thinking more more of like utilities! I could see water bill costs raising 3 fold...maybe more. I had this talk with my dad and he said something similar that they don't buy bottled water any more cause the cause has been raising where they live. Maybe its already starting!

reply to post by cosmicexplorer


you and a thousand other people have made similiar predictions....lets cause some hysteria so they can jack up the price of water...we've already become numb to the idea that buying water from a supermarket makes sense...let the hysteria begin...

chrismarco
reply to post by cosmicexplorer

 

you and a thousand other people have made similiar predictions....lets cause some hysteria so they can jack up the price of water...we've already become numb to the idea that buying water from a supermarket makes sense...let the hysteria begin...

I said it wasnt a very impressive prediction.....but if you look at the trends in taxing people who are resorting to other energy types....I could see a pretty huge raise in cost in water.....and if you got the conspiracy route lets say....where they poison the water or pollute it so you have to buy bottled water...we just saw what happeend in W Virginia and things that have happened with fracking. We may not have a choice. If you want next time I can just make another thread on the same other dozen topics that get talked about daily.

reply to post by Aliensun

Aliensun
reply to post by cosmicexplorer

 

Have you priced a liter of water lately at the supermarket?

I pay 39 cents a gallon at the grocery.

The cost of oil will equal the cost of water when it begins to rain oil. Is water scarce where you are, because it's a desert? Maybe you shouldn't live in a desert, an environment that isn't suitable for sizable populations who plant lawns and build golf courses.