Water Scarcity in Michigan Essay example

Water is one of life’s most precious resources. Without it, life as we know it would cease to exist. Almost all life is dependent on water for survival. Humanity uses water in almost everything they do in their daily lives, whether that be for consumption or production. However water itself is not enough to sufice, clean water is required for life to thrive. Dirty untreated water can be the cause for death as well, so it is integral that water be kept clean. The government has enacted laws to ensure that our water is maintained and kept clean. These laws cover industries, plumbing, and sanitation among other things. Unfortunately, the city government in Flint Michigan willfully failed to provide safe water for its citizens.

With 1,400 miles of water and 9 states using it- water is running out fast. Farmers that use the water are saying that they have more legal rights to use the water since they are growing food to give to everyone. Although, cities are needing water to keep their people alive as well.

The farmers have been receiving the water from the Colorado since the 1800’s, so they have the rights of getting the water originally.

In Peter Gleick’s “Selling Bottled Water: The Modern Medicine Show” and Cynthia Barnett’s “Business in a Bottle”, bottled water is argued to be an excessive commodity falsely advertised as healthier and more beneficial than tap water to society and the environment. Both authors discuss that bottled water is actually equivalent in quality to tap water and in some cases even more hazardous to the human body. Public water itself is a less expensive resource that is more accessible to the masses. However, due to fraudulent companies focused on profit and the lack of effective oversight, people are deterred from realizing that there does not need to be an alternative to municipal water. Gleick

With our water aquifers running out of water fast and our farmer pumping out water as quickly as they can, our aquifers will not be able to replenish themselves fast enough to survive the constant water use, and if the Californian government were to just implement a law regulating how much water these farmers use, the state of California may be one step closer to solving the problem of groundwater depletion. Currently, when a farmer digs a well in California, they have no limitations on how much water they use nor do they have to tell anybody how much groundwater they use (Pool). In California, farmers use eighty percent of the state 's groundwater, and without the

On April 1st, 2015 California Governor Jerry Brown passed an executive order calling for the reduction of water use in urban areas by 25 percent (average across all counties) relative to 2013 data (Bechtel). These restrictions did not include agricultural water uses despite Agriculture accounting for approximately 80 percent of water use within the state (Bechtel). On June 12, 2015 restrictions were placed on agricultural use that affected up to 114 senior water right holders (Sanders). These restrictions forbid farmers from using rivers that have been severely diminished by the drought as a source of water. However, they can still legally pump groundwater on their property and purchase water in the open market (Sanders). This means they don’t necessarily have to reduce the amount of water they use, it only strips them of one (for some farmers very important) water resource. Supporters of this order include State Water officials, State Senators Jim Nielson and Fran Pavley among other representatives, California farmers, Senior water rights holders, and of course Governor Jerry Brown (Stevens). Felicia Marcus of the State water Resources Control Board states, “Asking people to cut back, take shorter showers and put their lawn on a water diet is very different than fields that are fallow and thousands of people out of work” (Stevens).

“Most communities have clean water,” says Alex Beauchamp of Food and Water Watch, a national organization dedicated to keeping “clean, affordable, public tap water flowing freely to our homes.”(page #) Beauchamp’s organization believes water is a public commodity, not a private one, and shouldn’t be privatized.(page #)

At the start of the film, we learn about a small town in Maine whose water supply was quietly taken over by Nestle. Nestle could take as much of the water as they wanted for free, and then could package it and sell back to the people of Maine for a thousand times more than the price of tap water. The company eventually got so greedy, that it took sole control of the town’s water supply, and switched the municipal water

Water is being used in so many ways to make some sort of profit. From being used at water parks, being used in farming, but most importantly being bottled and sold. some of the biggest companies that have done this are Arrowhead, Aquafina, Crystal Geyser, Dasani, and many more. During times of drought, it is ethical for companies to continue their use of water from local sources. bottled water merely impacts the amount of water taken from local sources compared to agricultural industry.

“At least 1300 people have lost their water in and around East Porterville, according to officials,”(Source two). In the last few years California has been in a drought that is getting worse by the year. Because of this, state legislation plan on making a law to reduce water usage for farmers and other people. One may agree with this law and support governor Jerry Brown, who signed the bill himself.

Priscoli, J. D. & Wolf, A. T. (2009). Managing and Transforming Water Conflicts: USA: Cambridge University Press.

People are taking too much water from under the ground that is not theirs. “You’ve got to put reasonable restrictions so people are only pumping out a reasonable amount of water that underlies their land” (Source three). Farmers are taking more water than they need for their land away from other citizens. Without the law being introduced, people can take as much water as they want. They can

Arnold, E 2006, ‘Bottled water drains natural resources’, Earth Policy Institute, 1 April , viewed 22 Octobe

This is going to give a brief overview of what many realtors and private real estate brokers believe is going to become a huge issue, the state of Vermont has placed a time limit on there new law, any pre-existing waste water systems will have to comply with the new law by a certain date if the existing system in place is to fail. Many of the land owners whom have subdivided there property and sold lots for people to build on did so without all the state regulations, the laws allowed this as long as you had at least a 10 acre parcel. Many of these systems were put in lets say not the same as the ones regulated by the state of Vermont, so they are more likely to fail than others, when this occurs the owners of these properties have no choice but to comply and submit a wastewater permit and have a system installed which is designed by a licensed engineer and meets state requirements. Which is where some of the big problems may begin, the area where they are required to install a new system may only be able to accept a certain type of system known as a raised mound, these are much more expensive.Had they known they may have not purchased the property. The other main issue are additions to a home with a system built without state requirements, any increase in water flow to the system ,Additional bathrooms,kitchens,laundry, will also trigger a waste water permit to be filed with the state and a system installed which has been designed by a licensed engineer and meets state

There are basically three ways that water is privatized; bottled water, municipal services and bulk water sales. As a consumer of bottled water I wanted to research further and find out the truth about it. What I discovered was that we as consumers have been fooled by these water corporations. To begin with the cost of bottled water is two thousand times more than tap water. I found it absolutely ludicrous that we are willing to pay such a high price for bottled water considering it costs close to nothing to drink water from the tap. In reality, as I found out, most bottled water which we believe comes from some exotic spring is actually filtered tap water from a U.S. city. According to Food & Water Watch one third of all bottled water comes from a public water source. #4