SUSTAINABILITY: WATER AND OTHER SHORTAGES
One of the twelve tools of CAVEAT is to anticipate scarcity and provide for enough resources in advance for society to be sustainable. This is especially true of strategic assets, defined and discussed in the sub-blog under the Policy Blog page. Even in a mild crisis like covid-19, when society is not in danger, we could see how il-prepared America and the world was. We had shortages of ventilators, masks which were manufactured overseas, hospital beds, trained medical people, and most of all—-common sense.
Catastrophic Thinking recognizes the potential for such scarcity and plans ahead. Of course, we suffer from many looming shortages even now, in the good times. Catastrophic Thinking addresses the known problems now, in times of plenty, because unexpected shortages will rise up in a cataclysm. There is no justification for putting off to tomorrow addressing the shortage of fertilizer caused by the Russian-Ukranian War, two of the world’s major suppliers of fertilizer. For that matter, food shortages will be witnessed world-wide, for those same two countries are major food exporters. In the same vein, what about the projected shortages of Javelin tank-killing missiles? Research how the American military is whining about running out of Javelin missiles to ship to Ukraine. You would think we have manufacturing capabilities to produce strategic weapons fast enough to keep our military fully equipped on two fronts, on two wars simultaneously, like we did in World War II in the Atlantic and the Pacific. You would think.
The most troubling of all shortages that we fully aware of is our water supply. We have no coordinated national policy of water supply, but we should. Ironically, I believe one way to help address the water shortages is to tax it. Because it is a strategic asset, we should tax all water at ten per cent and give the proceeds of the use tax to social security. (See the Blog on Saving Social Security). This will make people more frugal with water, as conservation with a tax incentive may cause most people to stop watering their lawns. There are so many ways we are wasting our water that must stop. In this blog feel free on more ideas to stop wasting water and somehow making more of it.
Here are a few:
Wind turbines can push humid air deep underground where the water naturally condenses in colder temperatures. The water can then be collected in tanks deep underground beneath the turbine. Depending on the urgency of water needs, it can be pumped to the surface or allowed to drip deeper to replenish the aquifers.
Transportable Desalinization plants should be established along the east and west coasts to meet local water consumption. As sea level rises, they could be moved to higher ground. Pumping from aquifers along the coastlines should be prohibited. Reports are that our major cities are sinking. New Orleans, the Central Valley of California, Miami, and Washington are a few such embattled areas committing a slow suicide because they are unwilling to spend the money. One way to raise the funds is for social security to invest in transportable desalination plants and sell the water to those areas, for a profit of at least a fair market return, say 12 per cent, plus of course the ten per cent use tax collected for the social security trust fund.
The Ogallala Aquifer is being depleted which will destroy agriculture and crop production from Texas to South Dakota. Pumping must be heavily regulated to allow natural replenishment. We can accelerate the mending process by requiring every wind turbine to contribute water. See #1 above. Even Iowa’s aquifer is being depleted by the excessive draws on it by the ethanol industry. Let all pumping from the ground be subject to a social security use tax. Even in places with “plenty” of water.
Resume research into rainmaking. Seeding clouds off the California coast during the dry season would be a good place to start.
Recycling sewage water should be required everywhere in the United States. Sure, we don’t want to drink it even if we distill it. But there are numerous industrial or agricultural uses that do not offend the palate. Plus recycled water would be exempt from the social security use tax.
Your ideas?
Please comment on these five ideas or add some of your own. Begin your comments on this blog by referencing #1, #2, etc. or #6 for new ideas.