Since we travel to Chicago Oct. 19-22 to celebrate water at WEFTEC with about 16,000 of our closest friends from 60 countries, I decided to research a few water issues. My internet search engine found more than 1 billion entries. Who says water is not a hot topic?
According to the United Nations Development Program, more than 1 billion people—about one in six—have no access to clean and safe drinking water while more than 2 billion lack access to adequate sanitation.
A dripping faucet can waste 20 gallons of water a day and a leaking toilet can use 90,000 gallons of water in a month. A gallon of bottled water is more expensive than a gallon of gasoline.
Meanwhile, T. Boone Pickens thinks water is the new oil, according to a now-famous article in Business Week (June 12, 2008). Water—which many refer to as “blue gold”—may become one of the world's most expensive commodities. Like many land owners around the globe, Pickens plans to sell the water that lies beneath the 68,000 acres of Texas land he owns.
If he pumps it all, Pickens could sell about $165 million worth of water to Dallas each year. Even though property owners in Texas, and elsewhere, can legally sell their water separately from the land above it, this issue begs the question: “Who owns the water?”
The BW article reported that since the early 1900s, groundwater use in Texas has been governed by the “rule of capture,” otherwise described as “the biggest pump wins.” It allows landowners to pump as much water as they can, even if doing so drains neighboring properties. After more than a decade of debate, legislature and one persistent Pickens, the groundwater conservation district of Roberts County passed the 50-50 rule: Anyone who receives a new permit to pump can draw down the aquifer by 50 percent over the next 50 years.
Let me know what you think of this issue and other water topics and visit us at Booth #26186 at WEFTEC.