Groundwater is the Next Oil

In a recent article on Green Inc. in the New York Times, parallels were discussed between our current  fresh water and ground water shortage to that of the dwindling supply of oil.

Many believe that water, like oil has reached peak supply. In the case of water, this means that aquifers are being drained faster than they can naturally be replenished. With 2.4 billion people in the world lacking adequate drinking water supplies, this does not seem far fetched.

Todd Jarvis the associate director at the Institute for Water and Watersheds at Oregon State University believes that we need to learn from the oil crisis to better deal with the groundwater crisis.

In many countries, the law gives landowners unlimited access to the groundwater under their land. Many landowners will extract as much as they can from these aquifers even though they share the water source with many other landowners and people. By not cooperating on preserving the supply, the water is used up at an unsustainable rate.

The law surrounding oil wells on the other hand often requires all owners above the oil wells to share in the management and profits of an oil well. This makes the well better managed and gives an incentive for creating a sustainable supply.

Cooperative management makes even more sense for water than oil. Unlike oil, we all need water to survive.

Photo Credit: 'Free Wine' via Flickr