Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
their water, at least the bottled variety. Even people who drink tap
water pay more, especially after factoring in the effect of shrink-
ing water supplies on the costs of producing food and raw materi-
als. Throw in the ever-increasing billions of dollars spent annually
to keep tap water safe and to update antiquated infrastructure, and
tap water suddenly isn't so cheap.
Whenever a commodity is in demand, you can count on cash
changing hands and capitalism springing up. Climate change and
environmental issues aside, there's little question that water is fast
becoming the next great commodity of the twenty-fi rst century.
Markets are hot, and the controversies are hotter. Let's look more
closely.
FACTS AND FIGURES
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The numbers tell the story of water's importance. We've
briefly mentioned how much water Americans use, but
it's worth reviewing it with capitalism in mind. The United
States uses 410 billion gallons of water every day, 349 billion
gallons of which are freshwater. That's nearly 150 trillion gallons
of water a year.
The average American uses about 100 gallons of water a day
for in-home personal use, but that can vary depending on cli-
mate, location, and other factors.
Americans consumed an estimated 8.1 billion gallons of
bottled water in 2009, according to the Beverage Marketing
Corporation. 1
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Dollars and Cents
Water is cheap, says Steve Maxwell, widely recognized water-business
expert and managing director of TechKNOWLEDGEy Strategic
Group, a Colorado-based independent investment banking and
management-consulting fi rm that focuses on commercial water
and environmental services industries. “But in many regards, the
treatment, collection, transmission, and storage of water in terms
of dollar costs represents one of the largest industries in the world.
It costs billions of dollars a year to move this water around and
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