T. Boone Pickens thinks water is the new oil. (opens in new tab)

(businessweek.com)

11 pointspacohn14y ago5 comments

5 comments

He is absolutely right. The US should leverage the Great Lakes, Panama, Gatun.

The trouble with "leveraging" the Great Lakes is that all but Lake Michigan are shared with Canada. Lake Ontario, for example, is pretty much split down the middle. 9+ million Canadians rely on that lake as cities like Toronto, Hamilton, Kingston and Mississauga are all on the lake. Would Canadians sit still while the US started draining off a resource so critical as their water?

pacohnOP14y ago

As a Michigander, anyone that wants to divert Great Lakes waters is looking for a fight. Those lakes are Michigan.

Also, the Michigan militia.

pedalpete14y ago

I keep hearing this argument about water scarcity, but is it true that water is scarce? or clean water is scarce.

Unlike oil, populations are concentrated around water. With improvements in technology to clean and desalinate water, would this market for water still exist?

Oil is limited in quantity, isn't cycled by the environment quickly and must be shipped from the area where it is retrieved to where it is to be used.

To me, this means that clean water technology has huge value, but that water that is already clean is less valuable.

wiseleo14y ago

Interesting.

He creates a new government entity, wins right for eminent domain, and can issue tax-free bonds.

That article could be a part of any book on world domination.

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