![]() ![]() There are still water bottles kicking around the minivan and the house. We're always promoting bringing the refillable bottle of water to the soccer game or the dance lessons. "We use a lot less bottled water in our house than we used to. We spend almost as much on crushable plastic bottles of water as we do maintaining the water system." In the U.S., we spend $21 billion a year buying bottled water, and we spend $29 billion a year maintaining the entire water system - pipes, treatment plants, pumps. We think, 'Why should I pay more for water? I'll just go buy bottled water.' But, in fact, we don't actually spend that much money supporting the system. That hidden system is corroding, and as it corrodes, it even corrodes our support for public water. We don't even take for granted because taking it for granted would suggest we pay attention to it. "One of the big problems of water is that the success of the golden age of water has created an invisible system. One of the officials from the Philadelphia water utility said to me, 'We want to make sure we get the 20 miles right.' That's not a question of money, it's a question of public resistance to digging up streets." In Philadelphia, there are 3,300 miles of water mains in the city, and they replace 20 miles a year. So cities are starved for financial resources and water utilities are often in terrible shape. Our water bill is less than half what our cable TV bill or our cell phone bill is. So our always-on, unlimited, almost universally reliably safe water costs us about $1 a day. On the antiquated municipal water systems in the United States There's nothing wrong with companies innovating water as long as the water remains a public resource. That's a question of making sure that we understand the economics and policies on a community-by-community basis. while we also take advantage of the innovations. "We need to be careful not to cede those rights. "You don't want to let companies end up in control of the resource itself," he says. But, he cautions, it's important to make sure water remains a public resource. In the next 30 years, Fishman predicts, private companies will develop the technology to make water utility plants more efficient. "So they increased the efficiency of their water productivity by about 80 percent." ![]() "Over 10 years, reduced their water use by a third while they increased their chip production by a third," he says. Both IBM and GE have recently reconfigured their facilities to reduce their water use and save money, he says. He has twice received the UNCLA Gerald Loeb Award for outstanding business writing.īut cities with water shortages aren't the only places looking to conserve water, Fishman says. " 10 gallons of water an hour every hour of every day just to power our computers and our refrigerators and our washing machines at home."Ĭharles Fishman is a senior writer at Fast Company and the author of The Wal-Mart Effect. ![]() "So your flat-screen TV has a little hidden water spigot running to it," says investigative reporter Charles Fishman. But that amount doesn't even come close to the amount of water used on a daily basis by electrical power plants.Įach day, coal, nuclear and natural gas plants use about five times the amount of water used on a daily basis by all American households combined - including 250 gallons of water per American per day to generate our daily electricity usage. The typical American uses 99 gallons of water a day for activities like washing clothes, bathing, toilet-flushing and cooking. There will be different kinds of waters for different uses. But we will think differently about a whole portfolio of water. "In an era of scarcity, we won't need to limit whether we have water to boil pasta or take a bath. That doesn't make any sense," says Charles Fishman. "We use purified drinking water to flush our toilets and water our lawns. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |