Since the beginning of October, less than 25 mm of water has fallen on Midland, one of the oil capitals located in west Texas. Two of the three water basins that Midland and other towns in the area rely on are nearly empty. The third is at 30% of its capacity.
He is about to end up run over, his mother saves him
There is an ongoing struggle between non-renewable resources and renewable resources, between now strong interests and new energy programs, between the well-being of a few and the survival of many. The terrain of the clash is before our eyes every day and highlights how the lever that moves troops from one part of the planet to another is undoubtedly the Petroleum. Yet there are areas of the planet that are about to enter a state of crisis not because of the lack of oil - the paradox is that where this happens, there is a lot of oil - but because of the lack of water.
Since the beginning of October, Less than 25 mm of water fell on Midland, one of the oil capitals located in west Texas. Two of the three water basins that Midland and other towns in the area rely on are nearly empty. The third is at 30% of its capacity.
It is an article published in the New York Times to tell the story of this city symbol of American republican opulence and now forced to confront the consequences of its own wealth. Starting in April, local administrators have been forced to take a series of restrictive measures for limit the use of water in households: no more daily watering of domestic lawns and even less of local playgrounds.
“In the absence of important rain events, the three reserve basins in the area they will be dry by 2013”Says John Grant, general manager of Colorado River Municipal Water District. One of the possible even if partial remedies is pumping water from underground aquifers, but to make available an adequate system for local requests, they would serve among the 75 and 100 million dollars.
The waters of the strata are not safe themselves. They contain arsenic, fluorine e chlorine in above-average quantities with risks for the population. Still, over there it is not possible to drink water from taps without a filter system. Any water pumping system should therefore be associated with an equally expensive purification system.
To the need for water desalination, it is added that the oil plants themselves need water which often take from the same strata that should be destined for people.
Yet we are talking about one of the wealthiest areas in the United States. SUVs and single-family homes, gardens and football fields. The part of America that most lives on the glories of its fields today he finds himself having to choose between continuing to invest in a resource that is in any case destined to end or guaranteeing life for himself and for his posterity by investing in water collection.
The initial response was clear. Faced with the demand to make less use of water, the population of Midland reacted consuming the highest amount of water in the last five years. After all, no one has communicated how things really are.
The local administration is also trying other avenues including the possibility of selling the dirty water in order to recycle it. What worries the authorities on a daily basis is that the scarcity of water threatens the demise of many industrial companies that in the face of these difficulties gives up producing in the area to move to less problematic areas.
Guy Andrews, director of the development department of the local Chamber of Commerce summarizes the fear that is spreading like this: "If you don't have water available, you can't attract industries."
The American case gives us answers regarding the interests behind the requests for water privatization, which no rhetoric could have made better.
