As floral stores gear up for the Valentine's Day rush, Lake Naivasha in Kenya is drying up due to a growing global demand for flowers. By 2030, the demand for water will exceed available supply by 40 percent, Canadian water rights activist and bestselling author Maude Barlow said in a lecture Wednesday afternoon.
Barlow, who has been called "the Al Gore of water," outlined major concerns and conflicts surrounding the global water supply and argued for the public's right to access the resource. Some areas of the world are already in short supply.
"Is water a commodity to be put on the open for sale, or is water a public trust, a given right and a part of our common heritage?" Barlow said.
Water industry privatization has led to its misuse and destruction. Last year alone, over 250 billion liters of bottled water were produced by the $100 billion industry, resulting in enough bottles to stretch to the moon and back 65 times, Barlow said. In addition to bottling companies, some countries, including Chile, have begun to privatize their water supply, allowing mining companies to bid against local businesses for underground water.
Barlow emphasized that water shortages not only pose a threat to the Global South, but also to the United States and the developed world as well. Water shortages threaten 36 U.S. states, with the Southwest most at risk. The agriculture industry is the largest consumer of water, and current farming techniques are likely to become unsustainable in the near future due to the decreasing supply and growing cost of water, she said.
As chairperson of the board of Food and Water Watch, an organization that promotes access to water, Barlow has worked to implement legislation protecting fair and sustainable use of the resource.
"We need to fight for not just the knowledge, but for certain fundamental principles," Barlow said. "We need to build policy based on these principles."
Barlow outlined three guiding principles for combatting the water shortage. First, she argued that the global community must declare water as a part of the world's common heritage and have it a public trust. Water should be publicly owned and made available for communal use, Barlow said.
"I argue strongly that we cannot allow the private sector to decide who has access to water and who does not, because companies are only looking for profit," she said.
She said that nature has rights, and consumers should not consider water a resource that exists solely for human use.
Water has intrinsic value and plays a vital role in numerous ecosystems, she said.
Access to water is a fundamental right, and an adequate supply should be guaranteed to all people, Barlow said. Major food and utilities companies, the World Bank, the U.S., Canada, Britain and several other western nations have all argued against this right, she said.
Water cannot continue to be used at its current rate. Considering that the effects of the current water shortage are already apparent and constitute the first phase of the global climate crisis, Barlow said she was dismayed that the candidates did not discuss the water shortage in the November presidential election.
"Someone tough needs to come along and start the water dialogue in this country," Barlow said. "My hope is that this will happen before you turn on your tap and water doesn't come out," Barlow said.
The lecture was well attended by Dartmouth students, faculty and community members.
Felicia Jia '16 said she thought that the lecture was very informative and was motivated by Barlow's passion and emotional connection to the issue.
Leehi Yona '16 said she was inspired to meet someone optimistic about the crisis. There are a number of steps the College could take to reduce its impact on the water shortage.
"Dartmouth should take a more proactive role in its water usage," Yona said.
The lecture, titled "The Global Water Crisis and the Coming Battle for the Right to Water," was hosted by the Global Health Initiative at the Dickey Center for International Understanding.
