Pipelines Of Power

In Summer 2020, our focus is appropriately on the virus, its spread and the impact on jobs, education, mental wellbeing and the threat of personal bankruptcy.
The term “transmission” can take on a broader meaning with time to reflect. I’d like to explore that with you. We’ll cut through the common contents of pipelines; move specifically to “water” and lastly, propose
we become better at discerning corporate and governmental actions and motives. You may note down the road you first read about water wars in Mentifacts.

Decades ago, a senior level director at a major consulting firm made the statement, “whomever controls transmission infrastructures will be able to wield great influence, power, and impact entire economies and a country’s quality of life. Today I re-connected to his vision along with a myriad of thoughts on natural resources, the environment, rigid geographical borders, international trade disputes, over population, and a visible blurring of religion and government. I realized that’s a book, not a digestible mind stretcher. I may be all wet, but this piece is about WATER. First things first, however.

I wondered if we’ve become addicted to, and easily distracted, by “breaking news” daily headlines? Whether pre-meditated or natural, global or local, miraculous or mundane…such information is pushed at us through our time on digital media. Information isn’t necessarily knowledge, and what is believed may, through an event, be totally changed.

Peering deeper, beyond traditional ‘transmission’ definitions, leads to a web of influence, control, and economic competition among corporate and governmental giants. Moving oil or gas through pipelines is easy to grasp. Undersea cables move data throughout the globe. Trains, boats, planes and tunnels are transmitters too.
There’s a picture in our minds of a physical pipeline crossing through countries and waterways. We learn the news quickly when a pipeline ruptures or a digital cable breaks. Will this event impact family, my work, or me? So, it is the value of what is transmitted that’s critical to our lives. I am dropping anchor finally on thoughts relating to WATER.

We humans survive on air, water and nutrients. Our body is mostly liquid. Plant life, environmental and biological systems depend on water. About 70% of the Earth’s surface is covered by water. The oceans contain over 96% of all that water. Water, at any price, is necessary to sustain human life. (And many other life forms as well)
With online research on water and its distribution, we are led to consider where it originates from, how it travels great distances, and who controls it.

The 2020 pandemic added to a reduced demand for oil, natural gas became plentiful, and lots of competing digital networks. Major companies need to diversify, to grow. Their experts in engineering, technology and logistics are pointing to other less obvious, but very lucrative, transmission businesses. My intuitive divining rod tells me its water.

Bottled water began its journey along with gourmet European cuisine. Perrier, San Pellegrino, Evian, Aqua-Pura to name a few. Restaurants, movies, speaker podiums and celebrities paid a lot to associate with these brands. Water became a fashionable symbol of class, culture and wealth. This “fad” was to become an obvious new product to companies already selling beverages in bottles. How big has it become?

Plastic waste is an enormous environmental problem…a lot is containers to hold water. Good news…local communities are taking action to reduce plastic bottles and bags. Public water systems are disclosing more data on their water quality. It’s encouraging to see this.

In 2017 Americans purchased nearly 14 billion gallons of bottled water. In that same year, Canadians, for example, were paying 2.50 to 3.00 per bottled liter, while tap water was 10 times less costly. Health Canada reported that the standards for bottled and tap are similar. Much of the planet doesn’t have readily available freshwater. Climate change is also creating droughts and impacting agriculture, reservoirs, aquifers and groundwater in general. Where the opposite extreme happens, massive flooding, poor sewage systems and property destruction is evident.

If freshwater in rivers, lakes, streams, reservoirs and underground is critical, what countries have the most? Maybe there are motives for the interplay between those governments? Brazil tops the list with about 12% of the planet’s fresh water. Their Amazon territory holds more than 70% of Brazil’s fresh water. Russia’s deep Lake Baikal reportedly holds 20% of the world’s fresh water. Most of the U.S. freshwater is in lakes, such as the Great Lakes network. Canada is next with its rivers, lakes, and underground sources. Finally, China’s freshwater lakes and rivers are seasonal. (Note: the runoff snow melt from Tibet’s mountains flow to the important Yangtze River…one motive for China’s occupation of Tibet)

Who are the largest international players in water? Most lists include Nestle, Pepsi, Coca-Cola, Vivendi, Danone, Bechtel, Suez, and Bouygues Saur. Many formerly public owned water systems have been privatized by these companies… check out your home city record on these deals.

Nestle, Coca-Cola and Pepsi access privately owned water sources; purify or distill it, and sell the largest amounts of bottled water at inflated prices. Using different brand names these companies cut the retail price and sell via the big box discount stores and supermarkets.

We should remember that most of earth’s total water is in the oceans.
Regions with money and little water have the largest desalination plants in the world. They include Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and Israel. While costly to produce, technology, smaller nuclear reactors and sustainable energy harnessing tools, like solar, are bringing production costs lower. Even hotels, residential communities and companies with ocean access have desalination systems as primary or backup. Glacial melting is raising ocean water levels and has to be factored into water production decisions. Moving drinkable water from the sea to customers requires a transmission infrastructure. Short term, the usual, like trucks may have to suffice. Long term, the same issues that arose with oil and gas pipelines will be negotiated to carry water. Recently some environmental groups and towns have successfully staved off pipelines being laid across their land. We can expect more serious confrontations where life-sustaining water is involved.

Didn’t seem right to conclude this water story without sharing a basic question I’ve always had. Tap, purified or distilled? What is the difference?
Purified water has been filtered to remove chemicals and some contaminants. Most comes from groundwater or tap water. Distilled water is the purest type of water. This more elaborate process removes even bacteria and viruses…but also removes natural minerals, fluoride, and electrolytes remaining in purified water. Tap water varies greatly regionally and locally. Taste and quality is wide ranging.

How dependent a country is toward the owner of, for example, an important existing or proposed new pipeline, may find that relationship
shifting from simple economics to hardball politics. There are informative studies online to search through on this subject that you might want to explore. Research carefully, double-check original story sources.

The heart of this article is about how transmission impacts societies. Using water as the specific example I may have connected some dots, as to when and why governments and companies chase after water and other natural resources. New pipelines crossing country boundaries are controversial. Relationships will be strained. Take some of this self-isolating virus time to go underneath the headlines, feel inspired, independent, in control of information and proudly surface facts and understanding.