While it’s true that water is a scarce resource, it is simply untrue that water is a precious resource. Potable water is sufficiently abundant today in most places where human beings live that it can be acquired at a low price. Indeed, given modern techniques for delivering and safely storing potable water, water is widely available today even in some desert areas, such as Las Vegas and Tucson.
The notion of a colonist as cannibal in Haiti is widespread. This idea, called manje moun (eating people), could hardly qualify as superstition, given the experience of colonialism. It is daunting to find a better description for those who grab control of water and food, and then calculate the minimum caloric intake a population needs so that a maximum of labor may be extracted from its emaciated and zombified workers without killing them. The neo-colonists may call themselves humanitarians, but their victims know exactly what they are.
Wayuu indigenous woman Rosalba Castro, 20, draws water from a community well in Manaure, Colombia, Thursday, Sept. 10, 2015. (AP/Fernando Vergara)
There is no shortage of water in Haiti. Yet, everywhere on the island, Haitians travel for miles to get water, pay dearly for it if they can find it, and sometimes die on their journey to collect it, like so many antelopes snatched by predators on their way to drink. How does a thing like that happen in a country that gets reliably drenched with more than 50 inches (130 cm) of naturally distilled rainwater per year?
Pastor David Bullock holds up a bottle of Flint water as Michigan State Police hold a barrier to keep protesters out of the Romney Building, where Gov. Rick Snyder’s office resides on, Jan. 14, 2016, in Lansing, Mich. (Jake May/The Flint Journal-MLive.com via AP)
The city of Flint, where the pipes have still not been fixed and the water crisis is ongoing, is threatening to place tax liens on people’s homes for non-payment of water bills, according to a local news source.
On April 5, a team of chemists and engineers at the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and the University of Iowa reported that they had discovered neonicotinoids, a class of pesticides, in treated drinking water. This finding marks the first time anyone has identified the chemicals in tap water. [1]
Gregory LeFevre, a study author and University of Iowa environmental engineer, said:
“Having these types of compounds present in water does have the potential to be concerning, but we don’t really know, at this point, what these levels might be.” [1]
On the 13th of April, the Dáil (the Irish parliament) decided to get rid of the 2014-introduced domestic charging schemes for water consumption. The legislation had forced many Irish citizens to pay individual water charges, as opposed to water being a universal good provided solely through the government, free of charge. As the first bills arrived in January 2015, thousands of people took to the streets to protest what was perceived as austerity measures.
Showerheads used to be easy to hack. And never doubt the need to do so. What do we want out of a shower? We want fantastic amounts of water pouring down on our heads, ideally like the waterfall we see in movies and art. That requires pulling out the government-mandated flow stopper after the purchase and before the installation.
An aerial view of the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore in Portage, Indiana. U.S. Steel’s facility can be seen in the upper left corner adjacent to the tributary to Lake Michigan. (Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore/Flickr)
A woman in a bus observes a march protesting the cost of living in Aguilares, El Salvador, some 13 miles north of San Salvador, the sign reads “Together lets defend life! No to mining exploitation.” (AP/Edgar Romero)
The people of El Salvador and their international allies against irresponsible mining are celebrating a historic victory. After a long battle against global mining companies that were determined to plunder the country’s natural resources for short-term profits, El Salvador’s Legislative Assembly has voted to ban all metal mining projects.
