Future Water: Government or private?

John Littlejohn, who holds a doctorate in Geological Sciences from Harvard, runs a firm called V.V. Water Company which held a public meeting last week to propose “building a pipeline that would supply [some] of West Texas with artesian spring water from the Edwards aquifer,” according to a report in the Big Spring Herald.

“The proposal entails building a pipeline from Val Verde County to Midland and its surrounding towns… through to Snyder. According to the firm’s mission statement, it would bring…[about] 48 billion gallons from southern Val Verde County to San Angelo where it can be distributed across most of the cities and towns of West Texas using the present infrastructure [of the Colorado River Municipal Water District]”, the paper reported.

“The price for this water is less than any other presently proposed plan and this water is of superior quality and is a self-renewing resource that is available regardless of drought conditions,” Littlejohn claimed. He says the pipeline would be 160 miles long and would take three to four years to build.

In the past, when water sourced dried up, human populations simply moved leaving entire cities and even civilizations behind. Our wealth and technology has allowed us to effectively bend nature to our use and such is the future of water.

In general all of us have a ready supply of refined petroleum even if we live hundreds of miles from a refinery. But unlike raw petroleum, there is no less water on the planet today than in the past; it’s just in different places. Pipelines and other schemes to move water, as well as desalinization, are the future. Will we choose a private industry path for our water or, stick with inefficient government models? That will be the choice that defines long-term success.

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