The Politics of Water

Article by Carole Rubin

Do you have a lawn outside your living room window? Do you have plants and flowers that require gallons of water to keep them alive? Well, here are a few facts about water that I hope will encourage you to change your ways, be creative, and go native!

Human beings need water to live. Only 1/2 of 1% of water on the planet is drinkable. As pollution and population continues to grow out of control, the amount of available water diminishes. 1.3 billion people on the planet do not have access to drinking water. 4000 people died today from waterborne diseases. 40% of the world's population relies on water originating in another country. In North America, states and provinces are threatening each other with diversion of rivers, and the U.S. is taking Canada to court under NAFTA for refusing to sell its water. In the East, Malaysia, which supplies half of Singapore's water, threatened to cut off their supply over criticism of government policies. For decades, many scientists and political advisers have believed that the conflict in the Middle East is not over religion or turf, but rather what's under the turf: the freshwater aquifers under the West Bank.

By 2010, 2.5 billion people in the world will not have access to clean drinking water. This scarcity has made the stakes bigger, and the greedy vigilant. Monsanto, the company that brought us patented and genetically altered vegetable seeds, along with Round-up and other pesticides, is buying up rights to clean water all over the world in order to sell it back to us. Joining Monsanto is the World Bank, Pepsi-Cola, and Coca-Cola, all racing to privatize and profit from water sales. So water is THE next hot commodity. Something to make money from, something to use as a political stick, something to go to war for. Ultimately, who has water, wins. Who has water, lives.

That green carpet of turf grass in your front yard and those exotic plants in the garden consume 60% of daily domestic drinking water in North America. Up to 90,000 litres of drinking water is used per household each season on lawns and gardens in North America. Coastal British Columbia is seemingly blessed by healthy amounts of rainfall, lulling us into a false sense of security that we will always have enough clean drinking water. Not so. The Pacific Northwest has the highest rate of waterborne diseases in North America. We are in the sixth year of recorded low rainfall, with reservoir levels decreasing each year. Pollution of our watersheds is increasing right along with our population, and industrial activity. And the U.S wants what we have got left.

Given all of this, should it even be legal to water a lawn or exotic flower? My position is: NO! Outdoor watering, except by drip irrigation on organic vegetables, or to establish native plants, should be banned, period. We just don't have enough to be pouring 60% on our lawns and gardens. For those who are wedded to that green carpet look, there are many other alternatives: dozens of native groundcovers, or indoor/outdoor carpeting. And the hundreds of native flowers and plants in this region are drop dead gorgeous! In this and following articles, I will be encouraging you to take political, environmental and aesthetic control of what you still can - your yard - by going native. Stay tuned.

Carole Rubin lives at Mission Point in Sechelt, where she maintains a native plant garden. She is the author of How to Get Your Lawn Off Drugs and, most recently, How to Get Your Lawn Off Grass - A North American Guide to Turning Off the Water Tap and Going Native. Both are available from Harbour Publishing of Pender Harbour.