WATER TODAY, WATER TOMORROW

摘要

The doomsayers are in full force: water scarcity is creeping up the corporate priorities (panic) list, with loud denunciations of the "old way" of extracting water, and proud extolment of the "new way" of managing water. This is the new packaging of an old point: the days of water appropriations are at an end. We live now in a world of water allocation. In May, WestWater Research wrote about the development of water markets, and its allocation of water to higher value uses. Also published this spring is the report Bridging Concern With Action: Are US Companies Prepared for Looming Water Challenges? by the Pacific Institute and VOX Global. The report provides survey results of over 50 companies throughout the United States regarding the impacts water will have on their business and their expected responses. Not surprisingly, the report provides dramatic findings: by 2018, nearly 90 percent of companies will take water resources into account in deciding where to locate facilities, while nearly 60 percent believe it will affect business growth and profitability. Water "emerged as [a] leading concern" when survey respondents ranked natural resource risks, such as water scarcity, energy security, and climate change. Seventy-nine percent of companies claim they currently face water challenges and 84 percent claim they will face them in the next five years.