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Volume 3, Number 2 February, 2003

The Insider

For years, nearly all Cambrians took water for granted. Few of

us worried that this most vital and versatile resource had limits.

Who dreamed that we would contaminate this resource with toxic

wastes and who thought that burgeoning population pressures

would place so much stress on the water cycle of our watersheds

creating such resource conflict? Some fundamental issues con-

cerning water will be decided in

our community and indeed

throughout the world in the next

few dozen years. Unfortunately,

some of these issues will be in the

form of litigation. It is our un-derstanding that the CCSD will

spend over $1,000,000 a year for

the next several years on attorneys

specifically targeting the agricul-

ture community who provides our

area with food, open space, and

wildlife habitat.

The push to commodify water

is real (have you looked at the

price of a water meter lately?) and

raises some very serious legal andethical issues. The push to commodify this resource by corporate

interests, banks, limited partnerships, and water purveyors typi-

cally comes at a time when the social, political, and economic

impacts of water scarcity begin to destabilize communities. Con-

sequently, enormous sums of money are spent to protect water

rights and, in some cases, steal water rights.

Meanwhile, on the glo-

bal scale, determining the

future of water, one of the

earths most vital re-

sources, is being dis-

cussed as if water was oil.At the annual World Eco-

nomic Development Con-

gress, which follows the

annual International

Monetary Fund/World

Bank meeting, corpora-

tions and financial institu-

tions met with government

representatives from more

than 84 countries to attend

panels on such subjects as

A Small Battle in a Bigger WarThe wars of the next century will be about water. The World Bank

Overcoming Obstacles to Water Investment and Navigatin

Transparency and Banking Regulation in Emerging Capital Ma

kets. The agenda was clear: water should be treated like any othe

tradable good, with its use determined by market principles.

Locally, the water we are asked to conserve and do without i

not held in trust for drought, fire or for environmental purpose

but rather, resold to the highest bid

der. Again, look at what a wat

meter costs. The CCSD has enacte

legal conditions to enable th

commodification of water tha

clearly place agriculture, publisafety, and the environment in harm

way.

Instead of allowing this vital re

source to become a commodity an

sold to the highest bidder, perhap

a more balanced approach woul

advocate that access to clean wate

for basic needs is a fundamental hu

man right. Each generation mu

ensure that the abundance and qua

ity of water is not diminished because of its activities. Greater efforts must be made to restore th

health of aquatic ecosystems that have already been degraded a

well as to protect others from harm. Principles to help guid

humanity in protecting water might include:

1) Water belongs to the earth and all species.

2) Water should be left where it is wherever possible.

3) Water must be conserved for all time.

4) Polluted water must be reclaimed.

5) Water is best protected in natural watersheds and wetlands.

6) Water is a public trust to be guarded at all levels of government.

7) An adequate supply of clean water is a basic human right.

8) The best advocates for water are local communities and citizen

9) The public must participate as an equal partner with

government to protect water.

10) Economic globalization policies are not water sustainable.

Credits and sources:

BLUE GOLDThe Global Water Crisis and the Commodification

of the Worlds Water Supply, 1999 by Maude Barlow

California Water by Arthur L. Littleworth and Eric L. Garner

Groundwater and Wells by Fletcher Driscoll

California Water Code by the West Group, 2000 Edition

World Watch. Privitazing Water, Jan-Feb 2003

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Post Office Box 1505

Cambria, California 93428(805) 927-2866 - Phone

(805) 927-7530 - Fax

e-mail: rick@GreenspaceCambria.orgwww.GreenspaceCambria.org

U.S. Standard RPAID

Permit No. 37Cambria, CA93428

Non-ProfitOrganization

Thegrowingsprawlof

communitieshasprofoundly

alteredtheEarthshydro-

logicalcycle.Countless

rivers,streams,floodplains,

andwetlandshavebeen

dammed,diverted,pollutedandfilled.Thesecompo-

nentsofthehydrological

cycle,whichfunctionasthe

Earthsplumbingsystem,are

beingdisconnectedand

plunderedpiecebypiece.

TheHydrologicalCycleEarthsPlumbingSystem