Business and water

Running dry

Everyone knows industry needs oil. Now people are worrying about water, too

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Readers' comments



Just check with arough calculation: 575 billion per year makes 1.6 billion litres per day, with a world population of 6.7 billion this would leave .2 litres of water per person and day -- I wonder how you survive on that.
There are other mistakes and misconceptions in the Morgan "study"

Random Scientist

There is not too little water, it is wasted by agriculture and pollution.As a city dweller, you are probably used for watching water bill. Then drive short distance out of the town and see nearby farmer who gets water subsidised or for free. There is problem that "people don't get clean water". They will not, most countries put right to pollute waterways above right to get clear water.


Ozatmk, re "home owners may do more by re-cyling grey water". Yes, that's true, and it's important in a place like Australia, the world's driest continent. However, household water consumption accounts for less than 4% of water use so householders' efforts are completely outshadowed by use in agriculture. The crazy thing is that Australians are subsidising (by giving them water at less than cost) Australian RICE growers for example. Instead of scratching on the surface of the problem we need a nation-wide sensible plan that dares to take on the farm lobby...


Governments have been using control of water resources as a source of power and influence since ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia. Subsidies and arbitrary allocations lead to waste. Eliminate subsidies, including the freedom to pollute, and the problem simply becomes a part of the cost of living or doing business. Business's worry because access to water is often a question of politics, not money, and as such becomes a major source of risk. The technologies to manage water use already exist, and are improving. The only crisis is when people and governments claim to have a 'right' to this or that source of water.

On that note, it would be a worthy effort for the U.N. to work on a global water treaty to establish a standard framework and arbitrater to resolve cross-border water use issues, like the law of the Sea. Countries claiming their 'rights' to water resources will lead to war in this century without international pressure.

Saad Alsam

Arab population is now about 600 million. All of them are living on three main rivers and scarce ground water resources. The water crises in Arab lands especially in Jordan is some thing, which can lead to a disaster in the very near future with the present rate of population increment. Some thing must be done to stop population and pollution increase not only in Arab lands but also all over the world.


My view is that we have plenty of water except pollution make most of it unusable...why don't we think of reducing our pollution rate and cleaning up our rubbish choked waterway as a more effective way?


Some years ago, I caught a radio report on the Volkswagen plant in Germany. It stated that they capture surface water from the factory's flat roof for use in the plant.


Referencing a recent related article on the use of waste water in the third world for small scale agriculture. It seems that the third world is more frugal and inventive in the use of water than the developed world.


I have in the past suggested that home owners may do more by re-cyling grey water. This would be by using bath, shower, and washing machine waste water to flush toilets. Perhaps captured surface water can be added to this mix. At least part of the water entering a home would be used twice. Regretably this idea has been poo-pooed by some other contributors. However water utilities in the UK are raising their prices by inflation plus a percentage. Would the idea be more attractive now.
Is is done in places like Southern California or parts of Australia, where here are constant complaints of water shortage.
It has recently been suggested that southern England may be experiencing a water shortage. Maybe my suggestion is applicable in Southern England when considered aginst a background of rising water prices. Are there any plumbers expert in this area?


Excellent article, I hope there are more discussions on our most precious and unappreciated resource.


I'm thankful that I live in Canada & the province of
Manitoba in particular, as we have abundant & clean
sources of water. Now if only our winters weren't so brutally cold. I guess that you cannot have it all!


1 - note that it does not take 4 cu m of water to make the tiny wafer shown in your picture but a dinner-plate-sized modern wafer! This will contain many thousands of circuits of high value - so in terms of water used per unit value created this industry is pretty good (almost certainly better than printing newspapers - making paper is a pretty big consumer!).2 - obviously there is no actual shortage of water since, unlike oil, all water is recycled (& the planet is covered in it), only of clean naturally-recycled (eg ground-filtered) water. So we need to deliberately recycle more water. I fear our/your reluctance to recognize this has more to do with aesthetics (urgh!) than with pragmatism - not a good position for the Economist!


In our government mainframe rooms ; we would keep a log of the temp and the humidity. We had IBM, Amdhal, Sperry Univac, Burroughs mainframes, Sun and an assortment of mini mainframes like Centrex, Entrex. The humidifier yield for an 8 hr shift was possibly a bucket of water. To wit ; humidifers in regions of high humidity stationed in light industry, home and office could yield important portions of fresh sweet water. The Hendix is a portible humidifer useable in climates like the humid coatlines of the Saudi peninsula. 2H2O is so impt that we worked for the Dept of Mines drilling for water samples in Enneabba and Bindoon Western Australia. McPherson, my super once noticed one of the crew pouring a little water on the ground from a canvas canteen. He went ballistic explaining how precious water was in the desert. Later , McPherson told us an enchanting tale of Lassiters reef. A legendary reef of gold lost in the sands of time in Australia.


This article is obviously encouraging a 'get smart phase' for a long process in conserving water. The Economist has already noted in an article entitled, "Nor any Drop to Drink" the west of the U.S. is experiencing great scarcities of water supply. As a society we should learn eventually to conserve, but learn now not to be wasteful. Of course I am referring to the Hank Hill's of our society which grow lush lawns in semi-arid to arid regions. If not for the uniqueness of the Edwards Aquifer our nations seventh largest city could not exist. Norms should be set to stop water abusers such as my neighbors who are installing backyard pools at an ever increasing rate. It is time to be cautious with our water supplies, therefore preventing a much worse fate of regulation.


I have to laugh everytime I read about the great water crisis.

The Great Lakes Cities like Detroit, Cleveland and Buffalo were once in the top 10 cities in the nation some 75 years ago.

Furthermore it was the taxes paid by the residents and industry in the Northeast and Great Lakes that built the south and the west. Plus financed the first 150 years of our great republic plus all the wars to defend it.

Now the mantra is the nation is running out of water. Funny, Milwaukee, Chicago, Cleveland and Buffalo-Niagara arent running out of water but if the crisis were really so dire then wouldnt 1 major employer locate their company there.

Nope! That says it all! There is a crisis but not enough of a crisis to put a company and its jobs where the water is!

Oh and lastly, for those who say the Great Lakes are running out of water and crying about lake levels. The Great Lakes are managed by outlets at Chicago to the Mississippi and outlets at the Niagara River/St Lawrence Seaway. Restricting flow at any of those points would solve that problem.

By the way...the reason Superior and Huron are dropping so drastically in water levels. Its not global warming but no one is telling the secret. The secret is that the Army Corp of Engineers blasted the natural bedrock in the River that connects Superior and Huron to Lake Erie thru Detroit to ocean going ships could travel past Detroit to Chicago and Milwaukee.

The result was so much flow passing thru the Detroit River that water levels in the upper Great Lakes are dropping and the only way to resolve it may be to turn the Detroit River into a Lock or Canal of some sort to put back that restricted flow.

As I said...scare tactics...that avoid the truth. If water was truly scarce then companies in the west, southwest, midwest and southeast would be planning major facilities in the Great Lakes.

What more proof need there be of a manufactured crisis.

Measure twice and cut once

Excellent article. On only has to look at the abandoned cliff dwellings of the Pueblo Indians in the south-west of the United States to know that water drives populations and economies.

Recently, "Forbes", the American business magazine identified Buffalo, New York as one of the "10 fastest dying cities" in America.

I know Buffalo (as I live in a nearby Canadian city on a large lake)and disagreed with Forbes, as Buffalo is located between two of the Great Lakes, Ontario and Erie. While cities like Atlanta and Phoenix are running out of water, for both industrial and domestic uses, Buffalo has water in ample supply. Buffalo may be pausing but is not dying; cities without water die.

However, I think we will start to see population migrating to areas with more water,and your report pointed this out.

Clearly, reducing per capita use of water, allowing better recycling and treating of water and ensuring water is better used are key for cities not blessed like Buffalo.

Incidentally, the concept of bottling large quantities of water means that groundwater and aquifers are affected. While industry lobbyists will say otherwise, they can move to new sources of water, but the depleted aquifer may not be able to revive itself, just like the codstocks of Newfoundland.

I hope The Economist continues to monitor this topic, including the issues of water use, efficiencies and cleaning wastewater.

Brian NZ

A few comments:
1. Water and energy are linked. Water can be used to generate electricity and energy can be used to convert contaminatedd water into fresh water. Solve the energy problem and you also solve the water problem, provided a reliable source of contaminated water exists.
2. Water is not free and/or cheap to everyone and everywhere. The bigger issue is logistical - transport and storage, both solvable (but not necesarily economic) using energy and materials.
3. Population control is the "elephant in the room". When resources in a specific location are plentiful, population can grow. Eventually you are constrained to a 2 child policy, then a 1 child policy, then migration or death. The sooner the population issue os tackled, the more palatable it will be.
4. Growth needs to be net-zero. That is the definition of sustainability. Ultimately the winning strategy will be to make more efficient use of what we have. The alternative is a resource constraint somewhere.
5. Resource dispersion is also an issue. When the concentrated resouces run out, how efficient will it be to get the dispersed resources to where they are needed? Ultimately this is also an energy problem.


Water as with money is most successful when its flow and cycling through the 'system' is fast, efficient, and unimpeded. Water, unlike oil, is not 'used up' per se (none is 'destroyed') - it is endlessly re-cycled from groundwater, surface water, atmosphere, intermediate 'uses' (agriculture, industry, people, etc.) - we all know the hydrological cycle. The key is to keep the water clean and widely available. Advancing (and widely distributing) technology to clean, deliver, and manage water will mean eliminating the uncertainty of droughts and flooding. Dealing with 'grey' water will minimize water maintenance at the municipal level. Flood control (both in overbuilt, impervious urban zones and the plains of Bangladesh) will reduce non-potable water contamination. Smart use of agricultural chemicals will prevent water from being in an unusable 'dead' state. At this time, there is water enough for everyone. It is just poorly distributed, used, and managed. Unlike energy, the technology currently exists to meet even westernized usage levels the whole world over.

Bay Watcher

We are only beginning to understand the parallels between our problems with water and our problems with oil. In both cases, we are anticipating shortages, and with them, the need to change how we deal with these scarce resources. In both cases, markets are skewed by government policies that favor some consumers and disfavor others. In both cases, nature has provided intrinsic advantage to some countries, and disadvantage to others. And both are being affected by population pressure and improved standards of living in many countries.

Lester Brown ("Plan B") has made the argument convincingly that we must view oil and water as part of the same economic system, not as separate systems. Things that affect prices and availability of one will ultimately affect the other. This is scary, particularly as climate change is likely to produce rainfall patterns that are altered in unanticipated ways.



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