The Big Thirst

Sheep produce wool covered in dirt. Scouring the wool requires large amounts of water. In Australia, the leading wool producer Michell Wool has a scouring plant that uses a million liters of water per day, equivalent to consumption by 750 families.

Raw wool contains oily lanolin, along with dirt and plant debris. A scour machine consists of steel tanks connected by conveyors. Water removes dirt and lanolin. Clean water removes the last debris, getting recycled as it washes back to the beginning of the line.

Wool has declined in popularity, yet the plant still produces noteworthy wool. The average raw wool contains 55% usable wool and 45% dirt: “Each pound of wool requires 3.6 gallons of wash water to get clean, almost twice what your home washing machine uses” (113).

Until recently, the Australian wool plant washed with drinking water, using three times as much water as now. David Michell, comanaging director and a fifth-generation member of the company family, notes that the business depends on water. A drought would cost the company more, or limit water. Fishman describes “water insecurity” as worry about water availability.

SA Water, the state utility, would not provide any water alternatives. However, the town of Salisbury had to dispose of storm water, so it supplied the wool company and other users.

Steve Hains, longtime city manager of Salisbury, notes that the excess water had to be piped away, and should get used. The town now collects billions of liters of water in an aquifer. This water can last customers for four years.

Purple pipes typically carry water that is not potable but has secondary applications. The wool company now washes with recycled rainwater, in which it invested, costing a third as much. The transition takes place as the “Big Dry” drought affects Australia’s previous water supply.

Fishman notes that the wool company removes itself from water politics, but also improves the water situation for the rest of its Australian state. By thinking about water, the company has produced an efficient cycle of “virtuous water.” The Australian wool company has reduced its water use, while recycling heat from dirty to clean wash water: “The city of Salisbury has taken a waste product that it had to spend money to manage and dispose of—storm water—and turned it into an asset that brings in about A$1.6 million a year” (116).

The city cleans water that would otherwise pollute mangroves of the Indian Ocean, reducing pressure from the drought on the area. Bruce Naumann, water manager of Salisbury, describes “fit-for-purpose water” as using appropriate water for the task. Fishman says that this notion could be the most important result of the purple pipes.

A new local residential development, Mawson Lakes, includes both potable and purple-pipe water. There, 4,500 homes use recycled water for toilets and lawns: “During the depth of the Australian drought, Mawson Lakes residents could still water their outdoor plants and gardens when no one else could—because they were using reuse water” (116).

Steve Hains, city manager, says that the city is altering how people relate to water. Fishman argues that people should not water fields or flush toilets with drinking water. People only do so because they have become accustomed to plentiful water. Water insecurity now affects large international corporations, too:

Companies are starting to gather the kind of information that lets them measure not just their water use, and their water costs, but their water efficiency, their water productivity—how much work they get from a gallon of water, how much revenue, how much profit (117).

Aria is a luxurious new hotel in Las Vegas. MGM Resorts International sought showerheads that provided plentiful water while also being low-flow. Unable to find one, MGM Resorts worked with the Delta Faucet Company to create one. In the conflict between environmental concern and luxury, MGM Resorts sought both. The new showerhead used much less water.

Monsanto, the agriculture company, researches drought-resistant crops. By modifying genes, Monsanto aims to double crop yield. Corporations including Coca-Cola, GE, Intel, and IBM publicly disclose their water use. Intel aims to reduce water use per chip. Coke aims to become the first “water neutral” company. The soft drink giant uses far more water than most companies.

Fishman calculates profit and revenue per amount of water, arguing that companies voluntarily disclose unprecedented water information to protect against future limitations on water. In recent years, corporations have started to mention water risks to their businesses in public filings. According to The Big Thirst, businesses now account for water because of money, and not due to environmental concerns: “Companies are realizing that the water bill includes the electric bill, the natural gas and heating oil bill, the chemical treatment and filtration bills” (122).

As a result of the costs of water, businesses lead political and popular awareness of water. Berkshire Hathaway, the business of Warren Buffett, bought a large water company. Levi’s discovered that a pair of jeans requires 919 gallons of water overall to produce. This includes growing cotton, washing pants, and production.

Cruise ships sit on water, yet they require fresh water, either from ports or onboard desalination. The ice for their luxurious buffets requires tons of ice. Jacques Van Staden, vice president of culinary operations for Celebrity ships, proposed using superchilled river rock instead of ice. It chilled food for less water, and looked attractive. This method allows each ship to avoid making 2.7 million pounds of ice per year, or 330,000 gallons of water. This represents a small part of the million gallons per week each ship uses. However, it does reduce costs while improving the environment.

The IBM clean water factory measures 80 water characteristics in real time. It also has sensors to measure the pumps, tanks, and pipes. Overall, the factory tracks almost half a billion data points per day.

Eric Berliner, a water and environmental manager at IBM, gives Fishman a tour of the Central Utilities Plant. Here, hot and chilled water accompany other types through half-a-dozen pipe systems. Berliner says that IBM sees dollar signs in the pipes.

The 3.2 million gallons of daily incoming water cost $100,000 per month. Most of the cost, however, accrues in processing water. IBM produces nine special types of water, each costing five to 10 times as much as the raw water.

Janette Bombardier, operations manager at the site, says that water can be a competitive advantage in the consumer market. Using less water costs less.

Initially, IBM had separate incoming warm and cold water. For years, the company spent money separately cooling and warming water for different uses. Recently, it bridged across facilities to pipe warm or cool water directly where necessary, saving money. The company also uses cold air from outside to cool its water.

In the first decade of the 2000s, the IBM plant reduced its water cost by 29%, or $740,000 per year. The company also saved four times as much, almost $3 million per year, in chemicals, filtration, and energy. Over the same period, chip production rose 30%. “Water productivity” doubled.

Measuring water itself brings more attention to possible ways to use water. Through its awareness, IBM now has a water unit to bring improvements to large customers. IBM aims to make a “smart” water system. It would track and analyze water, searching for ways to improve delivery.

Water globally accounts for approximately $400 billion per year. The information technology component, “smart water,” could account for $15-20 billion. IBM also combines its microprocessor and nanotechnology products, to produce solar water desalination.

The largest North American water bottling facility is Poland Spring, in Maine. About 24 million bottles stretch over the plant’s six acres. Bottled water features ubiquitously throughout the United States. Over the last 30 years, bottled water has grown immensely: “For most Americans, bottled water is the one spot in their daily lives where water and commerce routinely intersect” (133).

Americans now drink 1 billion water bottles per week, more than gallons than of milk. Despite its cost, water in bottles sells. The per capita consumption amounts to 17 bottles every month, or 27 gallons per year. Each day, around the same amount of drinking water leaks from pipes as bottled water gets consumed per year.

Fishman writes that bottled water represents the most notable recent water innovation. The popularity of bottled water reduces the reputation of tap water. However, tap water remains more regulated, and safe: “Bottled water undermines our financial and civic commitment to a reliable public water system” (134).

Americans spend around $20 billion per year on bottled water, slightly over a dollar per person, per week. This equals almost half the cost of average household water use; however, the amount of bottled water is much smaller.

Fishman considers bottled water a dangerous indulgence. Delivery requires the equivalent of 37,800 large trucks. At the same time, a billion people have no water. Fishman argues that bottled water is basically tap water.

Numerous varieties of water line store shelves. Consumers buy bottles for the marketing. Some cities forbid staff to purchase bottled water except in emergencies. Environmental awareness of plastic waste is rising. After a peak in 2007, sales fell.

GE advertises its water cleaning. The company has a water division. GE Water produces various desalination and purification plants. Selling billions of dollars of products, the division only started in 1999. GE put PCBs in the Hudson River decades ago, and still has not cleaned it. Fishman argues for more regulation.

Fishman writes that water concerns only affect a small number of people now. Later, such issues may spread. As businesses now manage energy, hospitals, money, and communications, they could one day manage American water.

The shower heads that use less water have the same technology as recent windshield wipers. Inside, a path directs the water into larger drops that retain heat. However, hotel guests complained. Within months, conventional showerheads replaced the newer models.

While water itself costs almost nothing, only businesses that face serious shortfalls bother about water. Water has economic value, in terms of what it produces. However, the invisibility of water makes people take it for granted. Businesses that see economic value in water use it and think about it differently.

In 2008, a couple traveling through the Australian desert died from thirst. In 2007, two other people, including an aboriginal bushman, died of thirst in the desert. That year, camels died in the drought. In 2006, a teenager died on a hike due to dehydration. In 2005, two migrant workers died of dehydration.

Australian cities consistently run low on water. In one town, residents prayed for rain. In Toowoomba, a conservative town, there is no obvious source of water: “It has no river, no bay, no lakes, no oceanfront. Dousing rainfalls, captured in three city reservoirs, historically provided the water Toowoomba needed” (149).

Toowoomba’s reservoir had run dry. Rosemary Morley, a resident, describes a ladies’ club speech by Mayor Dianne Thorley. The mayor announced recycling waste water to supply drinking water. Morley and other attendees remained confused.

Fishman writes that water shortages became common throughout Australia. After a hundred years of reliable water, water slowed down. Australians call the decade the “Big Dry.”

Kevin Flanagan, who manages water for Toowoomba, can recall the 10 large rainfalls over the previous 20 years. That rain filled the reservoirs. Fishman argues that Toowoomba shows what can occur anywhere.

Water shortages require a mix of engineering and politics. Fishman argues that politics are more difficult and important than engineering. Under water shortages, some people may not receive water of a certain type, or at all. Although people in developed economies take water for granted, water can still cause issues during shortfalls.

In Toowoomba, residents differed over recycling drinking water for over a year. To some, technology provided an obvious resolution to the water problem. To others, drinking recycled sewage remained disgusting. The issue became nationally prominent.

The city introduced water restrictions, and water police with warrantless entrance. The water treatment was scheduled to take four years, longer than the reservoirs had available. Rosemary Morley led a citizen group against the water recycling.

Toowoomba went from full water supply to shortage in only a few years. The city sits at a location where water drains away from it.

Kevin Flanagan, director of water and wastewater services, has a desiccated plant in his office, to demonstrate the water restrictions. A veteran water engineer, Flanagan introduce water recycling to Toowoomba. A coal mine had requested the water, and Flanagan decided to clean it for the city.

After processing in the ordinary wastewater treatment plant, the water was to go through an additional set of treatment, producing water cleaner than the reservoir, or even the previous drinking water. However, people have negative reactions to the notion of drinking recycled sewer water.

The new treatment facility was to cost A$68 million, paid for with federal funding. Local, regional, and national politicians approved the facility. Flanagan and Thorley visited international cities that recycle wastewater. Those cities introduced water recycling gradually, and with public education.

Clive Berghofer, the richest man in Toowoomba, developed land and had involvement in local politics. Berghofer opposed the new treatment plant. Opposition to drinking recycled water gets referred to as the “yuck factor.”

The populist opponents outmaneuvered proponents of the water recycling. Laurie Jones, a plumber, described to activists how micropollutants in sewage could have feminizing effects. The mayor said that the plant was non-negotiable. People on both sides of the argument became distraught.

Morley gathered over 7,000 signatures on a petition to stop the plant. A member of the federal parliament who had supported the plant then opposed it. The federal government offered to pay for the plant, but only if it passed a local referendum.

Over several months, the two sides fought. Minute amounts of substances remain in processed water, though not enough to have side effects. However, people reacted in fear. Instead of a rational debate, an emotional battle took place. Voters refused the funding in the referendum, and still had insufficient water.

Large Australian cities have also run short of water. As a result, water has become a political issue. Officials promote desalination and recycling of water, and new water habits. A water program costs A$30 billion.

Most Australians reside by the coast, although much of the country remains dry. Although it rains almost as much in Australia as elsewhere, much of the water evaporates instead of running off.

Perth is the capital of Western Australia, far from most of the population on the eastern side of the country. Over recent years, the amount of water in the city has fallen, while the population has risen. The city is building a second desalination plant, and altering its water culture by introducing watering restrictions. Tim Flannery, a scientist, predicts that Perth may fail.

Adelaide, a city in southern Australia, also ran short on water. This introduced conflicts between urban residents and nearby farmers who relied on the same water. Officials doubled the size of a desalination plant that was underway.

Melbourne, another Australian city, also introduced water restrictions. Richer residents trucked in water for their swimming pools. Over a decade, residents have reduced water use by more than half. Officials are planning the largest desalination plant in the country, for A$3.5 billion.

The Murray River, important to Australian culture, was reduced significantly during the Big Dry. Fruit trees died, sheep populations declined, and rice harvests dropped. Some farmers left the area. The drought has altered Australia.

In Toowoomba, the city had the resources to resolve its water problem. However, emotions swayed the populace. Fishman argues that other locations can also have emotional responses to water problems: “Water may be mostly ignored, but when it becomes important, it often ends up being about emotion as much as science or rational policy-making” (172). Fishman argues that in addition to science, water management requires non-alarming discussion.

A poll of Americans showed pollution of drinking water as the premiere environmental worry. Fishman writes that for this reason Americans buy a lot of bottled drinking water.

Because scientists can now detect trace amounts of substances, people become worried over harmless things. People now also take pharmaceuticals, which wind up in wastewater. Industrial chemicals do, too. These substances can wind up in drinking water, with unknown results.

Shane Snyder, a toxicologist, is a scientist working with micropollutants. American regulations require testing for 91 contaminants. Microscopic amounts of unregulated substances can often be found in water.

Some chemicals can act like hormones in animals. Filtering out small particles costs too much, says Snyder. Also, these chemicals may not cause harm. An activated-charcoal filter, such as those in household pitchers, faucets, and refrigerators, can remove such chemicals.

In the long term, more utilities may reuse wastewater. Micropollutants appear in wastewater. Utilities will have to find the appropriate amount of cleaning, and educate consumers. Snyder argues for cleaning wastewater even before recycling it for humans.

In Toowoomba, no significant rain fell for three years after the referendum. In 2009, the city connected to the water grid that supplies Brisbane, a larger city. The pipe cost A$187 million, much more than the rejected A$68 million recycling plant. This costs A$433 extra per resident of Toowoomba, doubling water bills. The pipeline also requires large pumps to push 60 million pounds of water up mountains.

The large state water utility had built the same type of water recycling plant, so Toowoomba winds up paying more to import recycled water. Flanagan built a wastewater treatment plant in Toowoomba to sell water to the coal mine. Thorley, after her term as mayor ended, went to Tasmania to run a pub.

Laurie Arthur, an Australian rice farmer, has over 10,000 acres of fields. Friends and businesses sit at large distances. Kangaroos jump around the sparse area. During the Big Dry, even less water than average feeds the fields.

In one field, “Jurassic Park,” 150 acres of dirt fails to produce the normal 600 tons of rice. Crops such as cotton, oranges, almonds, and grapes, along with dairy cows, also normally grow here. Water travels over hundreds of miles in irrigation channels. Arthur says that rice yields here are the highest on the planet, even ahead of Egypt. Despite the drought, rice farmers here set a world record for productivity.

Growing rice requires the plants to have four inches of standing water for 14 weeks. That equates to having four feet of water cover the field over the season. Arthur has A$3 million of equipment on A$2 million of land. Without water, he cannot grow rice.

In a year when Arthur gets 6 billion liters of water, he can grow enough rice for 100,000 people for a year. This amounts to 5.5 inches of water over his entire property. The actual amount of water Arthur gets depends on allocations.

Before the drought, Arthur received his full amount of water. From 2007 to 2009, he only received enough water to cover 950 acres. That amounts to 3% of his land. Arthur expects another year without significant rain, then a partial return.

Fishman notes that water shortages can cause conflicts. Arthur works hard, long hours, and has various interests. He raises sheep to make money during the drought. Despite financial problems, he spends half a million dollars. Cutting back on some expenses, he uses less gas and sells a helicopter.

Fishman argues that water shortage increases water awareness. In some cases, it can lead to resentment. Some consumers consider other consumers of water unnecessary. Water envy may become more common.

Rice farming has a long history in Australia. Sizable waterworks supply farms, factories, and cities. A large part of the country may run low on water. Fishman blames this on human error: people have built societies on the assumption of water abundance.

Arthur has a bar graph showing how his water allocation yields crops. Over the previous two decades, more than half of the years he received 100% of his A$100,000 allotment. In recent years, he received far less, down to 10% and no water during the drought.

Without rain, rice farming in a dry country looks unsightly. Urban residents complain of rural water consumers from the same reservoirs. Newspapers criticize rice farmers for wasting water.

Fishman argues that water is a commodity, however people do not have water envy because people receive it for free. Instead of people reducing consumption when prices rise, people consume as much water as they can. When water runs short, lack of pricing prevents appropriate allotment, producing water envy.

Farming requires large amounts of water: “The 39,680 farmers of the Murray basin use at least 7,000 gigaliters each year—the 39,680 irrigators use ten times the water that 5.2 million city dwellers require” (193).

The Murray River meets the Indian Ocean at the town of Goolwa. During the Big Dry, the water here has stopped running. Rather than a river mouth, it has become an ocean inlet.

A road runs hundreds of miles alongside the river, from the ocean to Arthur’s farm. Farther away from the ocean, the river runs rapidly. During decades of water abundance, farms and cities grew around the river.

Robyn McLeod, commissioner for water security in Southern Australia, says that people now own most of the water rights on the river. The river had provided the most water security in the country. Now, farmers like Arthur have insufficient water.

The Big Dry evaporated much of the water in the river and its reservoirs. Out of only 1,860 gigaliters in a dry year, 600 were necessary for the river to run. 300 feed the city of Adelaide. Only 980 were in storage. Farmers normally need 7,000. The river is overallocated, as are numerous other rivers.

In Perth, on the western side of Australia, water overflowed in 1996. Jim Gill, an engineer, ran the water utility for Western Australia. Lacking knowledge of water, Gill built a desalination plant for the state’s forthcoming water shortage.

The remote state had mining companies. The utility planned to supply water, shown by a bar graph in a report. Gill noticed that the graph showed less rainfall for the last two decades. The rest of the report based planning on the assumption of regular rainfall. Unlike other staff, Gill argued for planning on continuing rain shortage. Reduced rainfall had to fill reservoirs for growing consumption.

Gill arranged a science seminar for staff. A speaker showed how apparent environmental cycles can mislead over decades. The water utility fast-tracked its developments.

Perth has a dry climate, yet residents want water-intensive, English-style gardens, as well as swimming pools. From a complacent water culture, the city instituted water regulations. The state water utility tapped an aquifer. Environmentalists opposed a desalination plant. Colin Barnett, a politician, argued for bringing in rainwater from a tropical, northern part of the state.

Engineer Jim Gill had windmills built for the desalination plant, and nozzles to disperse the salty effluent. Through politics, more than engineering, Perth addressed its water issues. The desalination plant proved more popular than tapping the aquifer.

The Perth desalination plant represents the first of its type in the country. The reverse osmosis plant has a three-acre factory. It processes 55,000 gallons of water per minute, at 940 pounds per square inch. Steve Christie, chief engineer of the plant, says that the plant has to run clean, and is not open to the public. It supplies 17% of Perth’s drinking water.

Fishman writes that Australia shows how water systems in developed countries can fail fast: “They are rigid, locked into their own assumptions of where the water will come from and where it will be needed” (209).

Water does not cost much, so people can use as much as they want. Sue Murphy succeeds Gill in running the water utility in Western Australia. She wants to alter the water culture. Rather than supplying as much water as consumers want, she plans to reduce demand.

Different water consumption takes place than in previous years. Instead of only an economic issue, she sees water as a social issue. In Australia, desalination plants can supply climate-independent water. The country spends billions of dollars developing more desalination plants.

At Laurie Arthur’s farm, dozens of kangaroos sneak near the house. Arthur flies in his helicopter. The land lacks water during the Big Dry, turning brown.

Water has become a political issue. Mike Young, an economist, argues for farmers to reduce their water consumption during the drought. Wayne Meyer, a professor, argues that farmers have a sense of entitlement. Farms consume water inefficiently.

Arthur has worked on wheat farms to make money while his fields lack water. Also, he shears his sheep, but the wool price does not make doing so profitable. Building a water pipeline, Arthur sells some of his water rights to the government for funding. Spending on his farm, Arthur bets that water will return.