Cost of Clean Water

Bull Creek

David Casaletto has written an interesting piece in the Ozarks Water Watch newsletter.  Water Quality: How Clean and at What Cost? considers the cost of both cleaning water to higher standards and applying those standards to even more waters.  This especially applies to the recently passed House Bill 89.

Now I know that mentioning a bill passed by the legislature just caused your eyes to glaze over.  Me too.  That is why his commonsense discussion is so important to read.  The pursuit of environmental issues such as clean water and clean air will be all the more difficult in the coming decade.  Consider these factors:

• There are more of us on the planet and we are expanding into new areas daily, areas that don't necessarily have available water, soil for septic systems and protection from water runoff pollutants such as fertilizer and chemicals.
• Clean water and air standards increase as we find more pollutants such as increasing ozone, prescription drugs in the water, etc.
• Tackling these issues will mean more regulation and /or more involvement by private citizens and industries.
• All of this requires more money, this in an economy that is stretched beyond its limits.  We face some difficult choices and trade-offs.

 Now, wipe your eyes and read the very digestible Water Quality: How Clean and at What Cost?.