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What is the true value of water?
By Jeff Caldwell
There are 474 different bottled brands of it today. It takes 39,000 gallons of it to manufacture a single Ford Taurus automobile. When it rains one inch in Little Rock, Ark., 2.2 billion gallons of it runs off into the Arkansas River.
Clearly, the value of water, in each of these scenarios, varies tremendously. Yet, in order to protect our world's constant water supply and our ability to utilize it to its fullest extent, we must establish a true value for the natural resource that provides crucial services to every element of life on earth, according to Ron Linsky, executive director of the National Water Research Institute, in Fountain Valley, Calif. Linsky addressed members of the National Grain Sorghum Producers at the 2004 Sorghum Industry Conference, Feb. 17 in Little Rock.
The basic realization that must be reached in understanding the value of water is defining it by its qualities as an asset to life. This requires a fundamental shift in thinking, according to Linsky.
"We have grown up in a society that still believes that water is forever. In other words, it's thought there's just a tremendous amount of water out there," he said. "The basic idea is that we can grow crops, but can't grow water. You're producing a natural capital, not a crop. The way I'd like to change people's thoughts is to look at water as an asset that provides services, that has value and requires investments."
As a crop that uses water more efficiently and in lesser volumes than its crop alternatives, Linsky said grain sorghum is a key element to the valuation of water, as that amount used ultimately translates into a greater relative amount of capital. As such, growing sorghum should be part of a system of greater systems, one that ultimately cycles water more efficiently, preserving the unwavering, constant supply available to the earth's inhabitants.
"Water is part of natural capital. Sorghum can get along with 22 inches of water," Linsky said. "There's a value in that, using less water. Water, in the U.S., touches every component of our economic fabric. Everything has water as part of the system. I don't think you know the true value of the sorghum you produce."
While it is a common notion among those outside of ag production today that many, if not all crop producers misuse or abuse available water supplies, Linsky said this is far from the truth. Instead, the true value of water, infinitely higher than it is afforded in many circumstances, is abused most in the world's urban centers, products of the human population's exponential growth, something that will not cease, while the world's water supply will.
"If we look at the world today, from an urban point of view, there are about six billion people living in urban centers," Linsky said. "Those urban centers are around large water sources like lakes, oceans, rivers or estuaries. All urban centers are the same--heavily populated by people, consuming water at enormous rates and crowded in and dealing with tremendous systems. They are non-porous concrete environments."
Even though agricultural and environmental interests are often polarized as opponents, Linsky said this conviction should change as part of the fundamental metamorphosis in thinking, in assigning justified value to water. As a result, the general population outside of the sorghum production industry can learn of the environmental benefits of growing the crop. In addition to the promotion of the natural benefits to the world's water supply of grain sorghum production, Linsky said producers can directly benefit through the boost in the proper valuation of their crop.
"The idea of being 'environmentally friendly' is a popular thing in America today. People love you if you're environmentally astute. You've got to tell your story, because right now, you're the only ones who know about it," Linsky said. "You have one of the premiere crops and don't recognize its value for what it does for the economy and its psychological value to America.
"Think of your product as an asset--a natural capital asset that requires services you and others value. Start thinking about natural resources as natural capital."
In summing up his thoughts on the importance of the valuation of the world's water supply, Linsky cited the words of Kofi Annan, United Nations General Secretary, who, in the summer of 2003, stated most accurately the required actions to accomplish the necessary attitudinal change regarding earth's water.
"What is needed, along with fresh water, is fresh thinking. We need to learn how to value water," Linsky said, directly quoting Annan's assessment of the need to establish water's value.
Jeff Caldwell can be reached by phone at 620-227-1805, or by e-mail at jcaldwell@hpj.com.
Date: 3/23/04
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