It keeps being said, but reports like this indicate there is little action: we are destroying our planet. There are many headlines that drown the fact that polluted water resources are destroying life forms vital to our well being. The “Rime of the Ancient Mariner” in portentous as the albatross guiding us out of trouble is shot as the wealthy nations and corporations continue control to exploit natural resources. Plenty of food but the world goes hungry. Plenty of water but our thirst cannot be quenched.
While emphasis has been placed on the degradation of major rivers of Africa and Asia the report belies self-satisfaction that those in industrialised USA and Europe have been cleaned up. Far from it. The author of the report says “he hoped the global report would highlight the need to address the root causes of the degradation of rivers. ‘We’re spending trillions of US dollars to fix a problem we’ve created in the first place. It’s much cheaper to treat the causes rather than the symptoms, which is what we do in the developed world today,’ Source Guardian.
Water has become another commodityused by the profiteers. You can turn it into sweet, sickly, poisonous beverages that sell bottles in billions. The life giving supplies dry up before they can reach araes once fertile and abundant with crops.