Potable water will soon be most precious commodity than other! [AWL]
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Fire Walk With Me (38,893 posts)
Fire Walk With Me (38,893 posts)
Bush Family Evil Empire join the rush to privatize the world's water supplies
References for when "Fuck Jeb Bush" is not enough, in and of itself.
3: http://www.slate.com/blogs/http://climatesoscanada.org/ Former President George H.W. Bush’s Family Bought 300,000 Acres on South America’s and World’s Largest Aquifer, Acuifero Guaraní In my 2008 article, I overlooked the astonishingly large land purchases (298,840 acres, to be exact) by the Bush family in 2005 and 2006. In 2006, while on a trip to Paraguay for the United Nation’s children’s group UNICEF, Jenna Bush (daughter of former President George W. Bush and granddaughter of former President George H.W. Bush) reportedly bought 98,840 acres of land in Chaco, Paraguay, near the Triple Frontier (Bolivia, Brazil, and Paraguay). This land is said to be near the 200,000 acres purchased by her grandfather, George H.W. Bush, in 2005. The lands purchased by the Bush family sit over not only South America’s largest aquifer — but the world’s as well — Acuifero Guaraní, which runs beneath Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, and Uruguay. This aquifer is larger than Texas and California combined. Online political magazine Counterpunch quoted Argentinean pacifist Adolfo Perez Esquivel, the winner of 1981 Nobel Peace Prize, who “warned that the real war will be fought not for oil, but for water, and recalled that Acuifero Guaraní is one of the largest underground water reserves in South America….” According to Wikipedia, this aquifer covers 1,200,000 km², with a volume of about 40,000 km³, a thickness of between 50 m and 800 m and a maximum depth of about 1,800 m. It is estimated to contain about 37,000 km³ of water (arguably the largest single body of groundwater in the world, although the overall volume of the constituent parts of the Great Artesian Basin is much larger), with a total recharge rate of about 166 km³/year from precipitation. It is said that this vast underground reservoir could supply fresh drinking water to the world for 200 years. (More at the link. For more reading: ) Bill C-45 removes 99% of Canada's lakes and rivers from the protected list http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ Greeks Stand Up to Protect Their Water From Privatization: http://www. Nestle Group -"Access to Water Is Not Your Right" http://www. Enron, an enormous supporter and contributor to George W. Bush, were early adopters of the hydraulic empire (via KamaAina) : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Azurix Corp. is a water services company, headquartered in Houston, Texas. The company owned and operated facilities in North America (mainly Canada), Europe, and South America. In 2007, Azurix was awarded a $165 million claim against the government of Argentina by an international arbitrator, the company is currently involved in a dispute over Argentina's refusal to pay the claim. Azurix was formed when Enron Corporation purchased Wessex Water in 1998. In June 1999 it was part-floated on the NYSE stock exchange, with Enron retaining 34% ownership. The company was formed with an IPO of $800 million and an opening stock price of $22.00, which fell to $2.00 within two years. The business was a disaster for Enron, and in April 2001 Enron announced it would break up Azurix and sell its assets. Enron eventually sold Azurix North America and Azurix Industrial Operations to American Water Works for $141.5 million. |
You Are Paying 300 Times More for Bottled Water than Tap Water
This post previously appeared on Business Insider.
By Matthew Boesler
It's consumer confidence Friday. Preliminary results from the University of Michigan's July consumer confidence survey indicated that confidence dipped slightly in July, defying consensus expectations for an increase to new five-year highs.
Against that backdrop, ConvergEx Group Chief Market Strategist Nick Colas highlights a few eye-opening statistics on bottled water consumption in the United States this morning.
Perhaps the most incredible number: at an average cost of $1.22 per gallon, consumers are spending 300 times the cost of tap water to drink bottled water.
In fact, that number could be even higher, writes Colas in a note to clients.
"The [bottled water] industry grossed a total of $11.8 billion on those 9.7 billion gallons in 2012, making bottled water about $1.22/gallon nationwide and 300x the cost of a gallon of tap water," Colas says. "If we take into account the fact that almost 2/3 of all bottled water sales are single 16.9oz (500 mL) bottles, though, this cost is much, much higher: about $7.50 per gallon, according to the American Water Works Association. That’s almost 2,000x the cost of a gallon of tap water and twice the cost of a gallon of regular gasoline."
A few more stats, via Colas:
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Americans spent $11.8 billion dollars on bottled water in 2012, the latest data available from the BMC. This represented a 6.5% increase from 2011, during which the bottled water industry made $11 billion.
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That $11.8 billion was spent on nearly 9.7 billion gallons of water, putting the average cost at $1.22/gallon. 64% of this amount, however, was spent on single- the 16.9oz/500 mL container mentioned above which can push costs up to $7.50/gallon. American Water Works Association showed that tap water costs only $0.004 a gallon, less than 1/300 the cost of bottled water.
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And we are the biggest bottled water drinkers on the planet in terms of sheer volume: China has been catching up as of late, having consumed 7.7 billion gallons to our 9.7 billion. But we still account for 15% of total world consumption, which stands at about 61.4 billion gallons annually. And somewhat surprisingly, we drink more bottled water than bottled soda on an annual basis, according to the BMC. Though Europe was the originator of bottled water (Perrier is, after all, French), largely due to earlier tap water supply issues, America now drinks almost three times as much bottled water as the largest European consumer, Italy (3 billion gallons).
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Bottled water consumption and sales have increased 312% and 371%, respectively, since BMC began tracking dollar amounts in 1991. In that year, Americans spent $2.5 billion on 2.4 billion gallons about $1.07/gallon.
- We have also more than tripled our bottled water intake per capita since 1991, from 9.8 gallons per person annually to 30.8 i n 2012, the highest level on record. Mexico is the world leader in gallons consumed per person, though, at 65.5; the U.S. ranks 11th. The rest of the top 5 are: Italy, 49.9; Thailand, 44.9; United Arab Emirates, 43.2; and Belgium/Luxembourg, at 38.3.
"What’s
most remarkable about this data, though, is what it says about the
American consumer: that despite the (debatably) excessively high cost of
bottled water when compared to its tap equivalent, we continue to buy
it – even during an economic downturn," writes Colas. "While Americans
did cut back slightly on bottled water during the recession about -3%
over the course of 2008-2009 consumption hit a new all-time high in 2012
and shows no sign of stopping."
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Would you pay $55 for bottled water?
by John FullerCritics point out the resources and waste that are byproducts of bottled water.
Would you pay $55 for bottled water?
Bottled Water Cost
If you got rid of the fancy Bling H2O bottle and lowered the price, would it still be worth it? What about the "regular" plastic bottles of water you find in the store? Are they even worth $2?Bottled water has become so popular that 41 billion gallons are consumed every year around the world. Many people consider it safe and convenient. Over the past few years, however, many bottled water companies labeling their product as "purified" or "natural spring water" have confessed to filling their products with simple tap water. In July 2007, for instance, Pepsi admitted to filling bottles of Aquafina with public water, even though the packaging suggests the water comes from natural springs [source: Environmental Working Group]. Recent studies have concluded that bottled water is no safer than tap water, and the costs of producing the drink and its effect on the environment have caused some alarm [source: National Geographic News].
To understand how expensive regular bottled water is, let's compare it with gasoline. With the price of oil rising, we typically think of gasoline as very expensive. On the other hand, some of us will barely blink an eye at picking up a few bottles of water from the same gas station. Here are the numbers:
A gallon of gas costs around $3. If we assume a one-liter bottle of water from the store costs about $2.50, a gallon of the same bottled water should cost about $10. Water, life's most necessary substance, costs about three times more than gasoline when it comes in a plastic bottle. If you wanted to fill up a car's 15-gallon tank with gasoline, it would cost you about $45. If you wanted to fill up that same 15-gallon tank with bottled water, it would cost you $150 [source: National Geographic News].
Tap water, on the other hand, costs a fraction of the price of bottled water. The same $2 you spend on a liter of bottled water will get you about 1,000 gallons of tap water [source: EPA].
So, even though it's cheaper than Bling H20, bottled water is still expensive. Next, we'll take a look at some of the other products on the market that seem to cost more than they're worth.
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