It’s amazing how little we seem to know about water. For all the talk about, and universal acceptance of, the need for clean water, so many, it seems, have only the most basic and conceptual understanding of how much work goes into maintaining clean water and making it available to so many, so cheaply. And when it comes to how water is used, treated and recycled, the understanding drops nearly to zero. “It comes out of the tap when I turn it on, what else do I need to know?” Plenty, it turns out.
But enough about us. Last week, Charles Fishman, author of “The Big Thirst: The Secret Life and Turbulent Future of Water” http://www.thebigthirst.com visited Milwaukee on behalf of The Milwaukee Water Council http://www.thewatercouncil.com to talk about water’s value. Fishman argues that “cheap water undermines the system but also undermines the psychology. Resources that are free are always wasted, always undervalued and always poorly managed.” Amen. As Americans, though, most of us never witness what life is like without clean water available to us 24/7/365; we have it all the time, and pay very little, if nothing, for it. There are many places in the world where that’s not the case, though, and that is both an unfortunate problem and an outstanding opportunity.
In my life, I’ve always found that solving a problem almost happens in three steps: Recognition of the Problem Itself, An understanding of the Desired Outcome (the solution) and an Incentive to Develop, Innovate and Solve the Problem. Thanks to Mr. Fishman and groups like the Milwaukee Water Council, more and more of us are recognizing and understanding the clean water issue better, and not just the way it affects us, but the rest of the world as well. But most importantly, they’re helping us create an environment of incentives, research, scientific, business and others that will reduce decades and centuries of water mismanagement and lead to the solution -- a clean, reliable, infinitely recyclable and appropriately valued resource!
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