Water costs hardly anything for the time being. Its something we don't think about, perhaps because it is such a daily part of our lives that we shouldn't (at least in Western culture). But imaging living in Bangladesh after the monsoon season, millions of people living in wetland areas. Its a different story than living in Waukesha, Wisconsin. We must be cognizant of water quality around us. We need smart urban and rural development that will take local water sources into consideration.

• The Future is Drying Up (New York Times, 10/23/07). A pretty in-depth article that follows a water engineer through Aurora, Colorado, a city slated to grow from 310,000 to 500,000 in the next couple decades. There's a lot of pressure on this person's shoulders as he tries to provide water from a city that is competing with seven other states for water from the Colorado River, Lake Mead and Lake Powell (created by the Hoover Dam).

• New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson would like to see a nation-wide water policy that would guarantee western states water in these water-short times (from the Great Lakes, for instance). Is this a selfish plea from a state that is panicking after so much development in the desert? Should areas with more water be expected to build pipelines to drier areas because of over development? What happened to smart land-use planning?
  

• Look how Australia conserves water. Pretty simple and cost effective. BUT, what does a desalinization plant dumping the brine it collects after treatment do to ecosystems? Pretty complex issue. Perth is doing this with wind power. See how.

Check out some recent articles about water loss due to drought, over-development, poor planning, and lack of conservation:

• Governor Richardson in New Mexico
• Atlanta is 3 months from a mudhole
• Drought in SE United States
• Update on Great Lakes Compact (10/11/2007)
• By 2020, Water Could be Hottest Commodity