Priceless? Water, the Ultimate Resource

• Author: Oliver Houck
• Pages: 199-202

199

Priceless?

Water, the Ultimate Resource

By Oliver Houck

Drinking Water : A History, by James S alzman. The Overlook Press.

320 pages.

From the July/ August 2013 issue of The Enviro nmental Forum.

In 1994, led by Representative Newt Gin-

grich, the Republican Party captured the

House of Representatives for the rst time

in 40 years, promising a new Contract With

America. Over time much of the contract ha s

come to pass, including a take-no-prisoners

review of environmental proposals and, in

the words of one enthusiast, House-led “war

crimes tria ls” for government regulators. e

contract’s legislative agenda ta rgeted envi-

ronmental programs, led by the Clean Water

and Safe Drinking Water Acts. is proved

to be a tactical mistake. While they might

have found favor in weakening the more con-

troversial wetla nd and endangered species

programs, the blowback on clean water was

unexpected—and overwhelming. No water law amendments even got out of

the House, and the action on the broader front collapsed as well. Monkeying

with clean water hit a deep nerve.

Although he does not relate this part icular tale, James Salzman’s Drinking

Water: A History begins with the power of water in the human psyche, which

goes back as far as there are creation stories, records, and archeologica l nds

to demonstrate it. It is a good place to begin, because the magic of water

is both part of the reason we have managed to protect it, and also part of

the problem in dealing with it rationally in an increasingly water-challenged

world. Is it a commodity, or something else?