“Pop Culture in a Bottle” - The Ripple Effect: The Fate of Freshwater in the Twenty-First Century - page 262

use—unlike irrigation, for instance, which allows some water to return to the soil. Once
you put water in a bottle, it's gone. Because of this, it raises the issue in the most pro-
found way: 'Whose water is it?' “
The latter is an essential question, and it lies at the heart of the growing resource wars
gripping many parts of the country. In Alaska, which is proud to identify itself as a “re-
source state,” the water needs of the mineral, fishing, and fuel industries have collided
in a struggle that made national headlines, thanks in part to Sarah Palin's involvement,
and has global implications.