WATER IS THE NEW GOLD

“When the well’s dry, we know the worth of water.”- Benjamin Franklin

Over the centuries, water has primarily been seen as something to use or consume. Appreciation for water has often been somewhat lacking. Attention was mainly focused on energy sources, which are linked to power and financial gain. Availability of water (especially in our western world) was never a real problem, neither quantitatively or qualitatively.
In recent years, however, it has become clear that there needs to be more focus on water in our society. Both when it comes to the availability of water (or the lack of it) and water pollution. In fact, we have both an (imminent) obstacle and a damage crisis when it comes to water. We can survive without equipment and machines that depend on other resources, but no-one can survive without water. Water is the capital of life.

Soil and water value

Our financial system is more or less linked to raw materials, in fact everything to that comes out of the ground. You could say there are three levels of value, with raw materials as the primary level, everything that is made from them as the secondary level, and the financial system created to keep the economy running smoothly as the tertiary level. Money therefore has a soil value, as it were, but is only a derivative of what is real value.

Water is often ‘overlooked’ in this calculation. But if we are talking about soil value, we can also mention water value, or water as capital. Now that the global economy is out of balance, the soil and water value of money is becoming important again. It is the only thing we can fall back on in a real financial and economic crisis. Nonetheless, calculating the true soil or water value is difficult. There are polluted soils, minerals that are depleted or no longer present, water areas that no longer provide clean water, etc.

Soil and water systems will need to be revived. Water must be purified again and raw materials already used must be recycled. To achieve this, we need a bridging phase that needs to be optimised from the perspective of a frugal policy.

In order to make a success of this revival, a broad support base and a broad coalition of actors/stakeholders are necessary. Collaboration is essential. Within this process of re-assessing the soil and water value, investments will have to be made. Profitability from an economic perspective in combination with sustainability in and for society ensures that investments in this area will become life-giving again.

Pure water capital can give positive returns, and the value can grow or at least remain constant. Keeping some aside, we can manage the future water capital for future generations in a circular and sustainable model.

Valuation: What kinds of value can we give to water? How do we assess them? How does this relate to other economic values and mechanisms such as prices, taxes, subsidies, etc.? Who is responsible for these values, and how? In other words: Can we develop models that make this transparent and show what depends on what? If so, who and what do we need?