A conference organized by Goldman Sachs has revealed the world’s “Top Five Risks.” They believe the biggest risk is a shortage of water.
“Not that there isn’t enough water. There just isn’t enough in the right places. And getting it to the right places is going to be expensive.” “… The report in the Daily Telegraph estimated “that by the year 2050, about one third of the global population will not have access to adequate drinking water.”
“As water becomes scarce, naturally its price rises.” “The U.S. alone has nearly 700,000 miles of aging pipeline and pumping stations. Some of these U.S. systems are over 100 years old. They wear out. Pressure falls. Water leaks out. Cities lose as much as 30% of their clean water supply to leaks alone. And then things like arsenic, human waste particles, chlorine, and decayed metal leak in.”
“With over 55,000 public drinking water systems … about 20,000 public wastewater treatment plants … and around 75,000 dams and reservoirs … in the U.S. alone … you’re looking at a massive infrastructure in need of updating and repair.”
“New 2005 water purity laws from the EPA demand that those systems get updated. U.S. spending on new water infrastructure alone could top $1 trillion by 2015, according to both Merrill Lynch analysts and Wall Street Journal.”