February 16, 2003

Oil Today, Water Tomorrow

All eyes are turned towards Iraq, as they should be

Empire is determined to extend its dominion

To teach the world that what it says goes

To gain control over more of the black gold

To change balances of power more to its liking

But oil does not belong to Iraq

Any more than it will belong to the United States

When it waves its flag in righteous victory

Oil is part of our planet, our earth, our home

Our children=s lives poorer for us having stolen it

And though now the hour may be too late

To undo the witches= brew which has led

To the present impasse, watch for Empire=s moves

The brew it is concocting presently, knowing

That the price of water will soon match that of oil

Scarcity of the blue gold has hit even within

The Ogallala Aquifer is rapidly being depleted

The Colorado River no longer reaches the sea

Lakes Ontario and Erie are polluted beyond hope

The President has laid claim the neighbor=s water

In their rush to turn a profit, financial powers

Tell us that water, like oil, is a commodity

Which should be privatized and sold

According to the logic of a free market

The price to determine who the lucky ones are

But I can live without oil, not without water

I can find substitutes for oil, not for water

My life depends on my access to safe water

My sustenance, on water to nurture my food

My health, on sanitation to stave off disease

Of the just over six billion of us on the planet

A quarter has no access to potable water

One half no access to basic sanitation services

Almost half are now experiencing water scarcity

Almost half use rivers adjoining other countries

Thus are the forces of war gathering steam

But don=t let them fool you, though they try

Neither wars nor markets contain answers

Only solidarity, cooperation, compassion

Equality, justice, grass-roots democracy

Dignity and the right to life for all

Let us now while this oil war is tainting humanity

Set out minds to prevent the upcoming water one.

NOTES

Ogallala Aquifer

The Ogallala Aquifer, the largest underground body of water in North America, stretching from the Texas panhandle to South Dakota, is being depleted 14 times faster than its rate of replenishment B which is in the many thousands of years. Like fossil fuels, it must be considered a non-renewable resource. By some estimates, more than half has been tapped to date (Barlow and Clarke, p. 16; Klare, p. 144).

Colorado River

The Colorado River is so oversubscribed on its journey through seven U.S. states that there is virtually nothing left to go out to sea (Barlow and Clarke, 9).

Lakes Ontario and Erie

The Great Lakes are highly polluted, the situation now considered irreversible in the cases of Lake Ontario and Lake Erie. Application of the Apolluter pays@ principle, whereby high polluters pay an increased price for water, has led many to relocate in poor countries where they do not incur such a cost (Barlow and Clarke, pp. 35-37; Petrella, p. 54).

The President

Canadians are concerned about the inclusion of water as a tradable commodity in the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). Many Canadians believe that American politicians and business leaders view Canadian resources, including water, as continental resources, to be shared as if there were no border. Some fear that if the U.S. runs short of water and Canadians refuse to divert their resources south of the border, Americans might view this as tantamount to a declaration of war.

Canadian concerns were not allayed when, in July 2001, just before the G-8 meeting in Genoa, Italy, President George W. Bush remarked that he saw Canadian water as an extension of Canada=s energy reserves, to be shared with the U.S. by pipeline in the near future (Barlow and Clarke, p. 71).

Access to Potable Water

More than 1.4 billion people do not have access to drinking water (Barlow and Clarke, p. 24; Petrella, pp. 8 and 27)

Access to Sanitation Services

In addition to the 1.4 billion people with no access to drinking water, another more than 2 billion have no system for either domestic sanitation or the purification of waste water (Barlow and Clarke, p. 24; Petrella, p. 8).

Almost Half are now experiencing Water Scarcity

Forty percent of the world=s population, residing in a total of eighty countries, are faced with a scarcity of water B defined as the availability of less than 1,000 cubic meters per person per year, without compromising water capital (Klare, p. 142; Petrella, p. 28).

Almost Half use Rivers adjoining Other Countries

About forty percent of the world=s population relies on the 214 major river systems shared by two or more countries (Barlow and Clarke, p. 69).

REFERENCES

Barlow, Maude and Tony Clarke, Blue Gold B The Fight to Stop the Corporate Theft of the World=s Water (The New Press, New York, N.Y.), 2002

Klare, Michael, Resource Wars B The New Landscape of Global Conflict (Henry Holt, N.Y.), 2001.

Petrella, Riccardo, The Water Manifesto B Arguments for a World Water Contract (Zed Books, New York, N.Y.) 2001.

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