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Contributed by Chris A Linkenhoker
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Jan 19, 2008 at 02:34 PM |
The Bitterroot Aquifer is among the purest in the nation and is estimated at 628 billion gallons. How do we protect this valuable resource from the negative effects of overdelopment?
Clean Water, Who Cares? We live in a free market society where people buy and sell everything from half-eaten, grilled cheese sandwiches on EBAY, to pork bellies and gold on the Chicago Commodities Exchange. It is the natural order of life based on the principals of supply and demand. It is the only logical way to operate an economy.We have learned from the Montana DEQ that we have one of the purest aquifers in the nation (right under Hamilton) and it is estimated to contain around 628 billion gallons. This aquifer can suffer extreme degradation from polluted streams and leaking septic systems. So, when we start deciding how many wells can be dug to accommodate an increasing population, and whether or not to protect our streams with setbacks, how do we put a dollar value on this valuable resource before we screw it up, therefore denying future generations the economic value of this aquifer? Economist’s use the “willingness to pay” principal to place dollar values on resources such as recreation, grazing fees, clean air and clean water.Well let’s see, most of us are willing to pay a dollar for 16 ounces of bottled water today, even if the quality is suspect. Simultaneously, earth’s population is growing exponentially and water is becoming depleted and polluted, also exponentially. Knowing this, large corporations are buying up water rights around the world, and in the not-to-distant future, water will be traded just like pork bellies and gold. In fifty years, the market value of pure water will likely be astronomical! Sounds like a good investment, wouldn’t you agree?Protecting our water and other natural resources is an economic necessity, and represents the “highest-best use”, when deciding future zoning regulations for the Bitterroot Valley and beyond. Chris LinkenhokerCorvallis, MT
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| | Comment by montanaboy on 2008-01-19 16:19:37
The most effective protections at hand are stream setback regulations. Write the County commissioners and ask that they immediately enact emergency setbacks of 500 feet on the main stem of the Bitterroot. |
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| | Comment by troutsky on 2008-01-20 22:30:41
I couldn't disagree more with Chris.It is morally reprehensible to commodify the labor value of people but to commodify something as necessary to life as water is evil. Supply and demand economics is simply a way to make sure those with wealth and power thrive at the expense of those who do all the production in society. We have fed you for a thousand years but that is all going to change and an ethico-political democratic formation of the commons will replace the system of greed and exploitation.
In the meantime setbacks and protection from toxic dumping and poorly working drainfields are necessary. |
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