Why All This Water Talk?

Why indeed. We here are, after all, an energy organization that goes back to 1908. And from that time to this energy has mostly meant electricity, gasoline, home heating oil and all the products connected with those forms of energy.

When asking a consumer today what services to his home are the most essential he would probably say heat, water and light. And like so many, he would expect the switch on the wall to turn on the lights at any time without thinking about it. And the water to flow when turning on the tap.

So the prospect of any of those services not being available is unthinkable. One may expect occasional “blackouts” or slow delivery of oil. And of more concern on a daily basis is the cost of those services and the impact on the family budget.

However the real fact is the growth of availability of fresh clean water is not matching the growth of the earth’s population. It is also true that there are parts of the world where the clean water supply is not adequate today and the resulting loss of life in some areas is terrible.

What is the answer? We have been offering solutions in many of our reports and they all boil down to the need for a total worldwide commitment, including financial, to the development of hydropower, water treatment (desalination, purification) and removal of all systems which add to the pollution of water – and air.

We have discussed the fact that while electricity provides the most efficient use of energy, it is the most expensive because it is generated by burning fossil fuels - that pollute both air and water. The full development of hydropower from both falling and flowing water would provide electricity costs mere fractions of cost of the fossil generators.

But cost is not the major consideration – reduced as it may be. The concern was so well put by Jacques Cousteau - air and water are the two essential needs for the survival of humanity. They must be protected at all costs.

And once again it falls to the governments of the world to rise to the needs of the people. It probably will not be easy to get all world organizations to cooperate or in some cases to even talk – the effort must be made.

And the American people have the voice. Let us hope and pray it is used.