The Defining Resource - The Ripple Effect: The Fate of Freshwater in the Twenty-First Century - page 4

Many people have turned to bottled water as a convenient, supposedly healthier al-
ternative to tap, but a 2008 test by EWG found that bottled water (purchased from stores
in nine states and the District of Columbia) contained traces of thirty-eight pollutants,
including fertilizers, bacteria, industrial chemicals, Tylenol, and excessive levels of po-
tential carcinogens. The International Bottled Water Association, a trade group, dis-
missed the EWG report as exaggerated and unrepresentative of the industry, demand-
ing that EWG “cease and desist.” EWG stuck to its conclusions and objected to the in-
dustry's “intimidation tactics.”
The health consequences of water pollution are difficult to gauge and likely won't
be known for years. But medical researchers have noticed a rise in the incidence of
certain diseases, especially breast and prostate cancer, since the 1970s, and doctors
surmise that contaminated drinking water could be one explanation. Similarly, the
effect of long-term multifaceted pollution on the ecosystem is not well understood.
What, for instance, is the cumulative effect of a “cocktail” of old and new contamin-
ants—sewage, plastics, ibuprofen, Chanel No. 5, estrogen, cocaine, and Viagra, say—on
aquatic grasses, water bugs, bass, ducks, beavers, and on us? Hydrologists are only just
beginning to study this question.
In the meantime, human thirst began to outstrip the ecosystem's ability to supply
clean water in a sustainable way. By 2008, the world's consumption of water was doub-
ling every twenty years, which is more than twice the rate of population growth. By
2000, people had used or altered virtually every accessible supply of freshwater. Some of
the world's mightiest rivers—including the Rio Grande and the Colorado—had grown
so depleted that they reached the sea only in exceptionally wet years. Springs have been
pumped dry. Half the world's wetlands (the “kidneys” of the environment, which absorb
rainfall, filter pollutants, and dampen the effects of storm surges) were drained or dam-
aged, which harmed ecosystems and allowed salt water to pollute freshwater aquifers. In
arid, rapidly growing Western states, such as Colorado, Texas, and California, droughts
were causing havoc.
A report by the US General Accounting Office predicts that thirty-six states will face
water shortages by 2013 , while McKinsey & Co. forecasts that global demand for water
will outstrip supply by 40 percent in 2030.
The experts—hydrologists, engineers, environmentalists, diplomats—have been
watching these trends with concern, noting that the growing human population and
warming climate will only intensify the pressure on water supplies. Some call freshwater
“the defining resource of the twenty-first century,” and the UN has warned of “a looming
water crisis.”
“We used to think that energy and water would be the critical issues. Now we think
water will be the critical issue,” Mostafa Tolba, former head of the UN Environment