Detroit Water Protest Highlights Need for Universal Access to Fresh Water Supply Says Water Advocate
Grants Pass, OR (PRWEB) September 25, 2014 -- Recent protests in Detroit regarding the city’s efforts to collect long past due payments for water and sewer services* had special meaning for water advocate and radio talk show host Sharon Kleyne. Fresh water, Kleyne believes, is fundamental to all aspects of human existence, from agriculture to economic development to digesting food to absorbing oxygen. For that reason, says Kleyne, the number one priority of every government should be to provide its citizens with secure and reliable access to safe, abundant - and affordable - fresh water.
*Kiertzner, Jim, “Bankruptcy court hearing focuses on Detroit water shutoffs,” WXYZ.com, September 22, 2014
http://www.wxyz.com/news/region/detroit/bankruptcy-court-hearing-to-focus-on-detroit-water-shutoffs-today
This objective could be achieved, Kleyne believes. But it would require massive education and an entirely new mindset regarding power and the role of government.
Sharon Kleyne hosts the syndicated Sharon Kleyne Hour Power of Water radio show, heard on VoiceAmerica and Apple iTunes. The show is sponsored by Bio-Logic Aqua Research, a global research and technology center specializing in fresh water, the atmosphere and dehydration. Nature’s Tears® EyeMist® is the Research Center’s signature product for dry eyes. Kleyne is Bio Logic Aqua’s Founder and Research Director.
The citizens of Detroit, says Kleyne, have a distinct advantage over the 1.6 billion people in the world who lack reliable access to sufficient and sanitary fresh water. Detroit’s water, at least, is abundant, clean and relatively inexpensive.
In poor rural villages, for example, in Somalia or Kenya, says Kleyne, children – and adults – die every day from diseases related to dehydration and sanitation. Chronic lack of water and dehydration makes people lethargic and prone to illness. It also makes people desperate, greedy and inclined to attack their neighbors.
Lack of water – and the daily need to fetch and carry water over a considerable distance - prevents children from going to school and women from working or becoming active in their community. Where fresh water is lacking, Kleyne explains, economic growth is impossible.
The addition of a community well, with a local governing water board and trained technicians, can quickly transform a Kenyan – or Honduran or Indian – village, bring it out of out of poverty and improve the lives of its citizens. The impact of reliable fresh water is especially powerful in elevating of the status of women. Residents of villages that have acquired community wells are happy to contribute whatever they can, in time, labor or money, to keep the water flowing
Kleyne is aware that providing water can be expensive. Desalination is especially costly. A total water recycling system such as the one in Singapore does not come cheaply and requires massive commitment and a united effort.
Most governments make every effort to keep costs down, says Kleyne. But they cannot do it for nothing and eventually, somebody somewhere has to bear the cost. In Kleyne’s view, the long term return in economic growth and reduced health and welfare costs will eventually offset initial operation the program at a loss. As a person’s economic status improved because of newly available fresh water, their monetary contribution would increase accordingly. But it should never, Kleyne warns, become prohibitive or confiscatory or the system will fail.
Kleyne understands that the situation in Detroit is unusual and that people with no money need water to survive just as much as wealthy people. Although she strongly advocates paying one’s bills, she also believes that the entire global water supply, distribution and payment system needs to be reexamined.
Earth is the “water planet,” says Kleyne. Not only is water extremely abundant but our unique atmosphere prevents the water, when it evaporates from the surface, from simply floating off into outer space, as it does on Mars. Our atmosphere, Kleyne observes, cleans, recycles and redistributes the water on its own, with any investment from anybody.
That is the fresh water supply model that Kleyne would like to see applied and adapted by the nations of the world.
Mikaylah Roggasch, Bio Logic Aqua Research-Rogue Media, http://www.biologicaqua.com, +1 (800) 367-6478, [email protected]
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