Many people in developed nations take water for granted. It is more or less always accessible to them and not everyone has knowledge about where their water comes from or how much of a shortage we will be in. To help get people to lessen their wasteful water usage, we could maybe introduce new policies. I liked the idea mentioned in class about changing the price of water while thinking of ways to keep it accessible. The idea of making water free until a limit is intriguing because it promotes conserving water as you end up paying nothing for it if you do not waste it. Rebates are also interesting as it allows people and families who cannot afford the higher water prices to still have access to it.
However, I think that even when individuals try to conserve water in their daily lives, corporations must do better in making production more water efficient. If companies keep using an excess of water in their focus on quantity of production instead of teh quality of their goods, more and more water will be used as those goods degrade (for example: making poor quality shirts that inefficiently use water, and when the shirts get ruined quickly, consumers buy another crappy shirt). Maybe governemnts could keep companies truthful and more aware of their own practices by forcing them to survey water usage in their production and get them to openly release these stats/data. As more people come environmentally focused (and thus base their purchasing decisions on environmentally friendly business practices), this information and transparency can make companies change to more efficient means if they want to keep their customers.
I really liked your post! I totally agree with you that it is so easy to take water for granted. Your idea about transparency is fantastic and I definitely think that it needs to be at the forefront of a more environmentally conscious future.
Hi Suragan,
I like your idea about forcing companies to release their rates of water use. I think this can allow us to focus in on the parties that are contributing the most to water waste and therefore more efficiently attack this issue.
In combination with water pricing, the companies that waste the most would have incentive to reduce that waste in order to save money.
Hey Suragan, thanks you for your insightful thoughts. Yes I agree that people from the Global North tend to be ignorant about where water actually come from and how drinking water in a finite resource. Here in Vancouver, most households can get perfectly clean drinking water just by turning on the tap. I don't think everyone is a water-wasting monster at heart, most of them just need some education and awareness on the issue. Water pricing is a good way of people to gage the value of water, as well as an incentive for them in conserve water. Another good thing that can come out of water pricing is that municipalities can have extra money to maintain and renew pluming and piping systems across the city.