RESOURCES : Water

The issue of water has been said to be the next major resource after oil that there will be wars over. Clean drinking water is being exported from NZ for virtually free. The practice of bottling and transporting water is an environmental disaster and not sustainable. The government says "no one owns it" which is a truism that has done nothing to clarify the situation.
eg " legally, If no one owns it, then no one can legally sell it, since one must on something in odrer to have the right to sell it. ?
Conversly if everyone owns it, everyone, would need to be consulted and recompensed in order to sell it.

Ref : The bottled water giants who are taking our water

Water needs some serious study as it's one of the most precious and scarce things we have. It needs study:

• How much falls in a catchment
• How much of that is needed to maintain healthy rivers
• How much is absorbed down into the aquifers to keep them healthy

Once we have those and perhaps a few more then we would have an idea as to ho much we can use. That limit also gives the limit to how many people these islands of ours can support.

And, no, it's not good enough to say that no one owns it. We all own it and, if we keep a market system, then it does need to have a price. The government coming out and saying that no one owns it is them trying to give carte blanche to the private sector to profit as they will and to remove the say that we have in the use of our resources.

Good stuff Alan,

added to the knowledge network:

http://confocal-manawatu.pbworks.com/w/page/108421252/Water%20Ownership%20New%20Zealand ( http://confocal-manawatu.pbworks.com/w/page/108421252/Water%20Ownership%20New%20Zealand )

Residents challenge council on sale of 40 billion litres of aquifer water

Water is fast becoming a precious resource in the world today. @colinengland I totally support the notion of a serious study into our water resources. This would give a benchmark of how much was left over after NZ needs are taken into consideration and allow decisions to be made with the excess (if there will be any).

REF: Water - NIWA
NIWA Water

Water Monitoring

@alanforster isn't it typical that the Ashburton Major and local MP didn't turn up to the residents meeting to challenge the water land sale. However I do think this shows us that local communities are able and willing to challenge the status quo in regard to whats going on in their area. One complaint I notice is that they say there just to many decisions being made in closed committee and this is key to our ERG Electronic referendum government system. I still think it would be useful to fledge this system at a council level to show its strength and, operating success to the public. If we were to do this we would need to research which council in NZ would be likely to take this up.

@colinengland I looked at the NIWA site on water and saw that is mostly has stats on water quality. Can anyone see anywhere where there is a study on catchment over all and the needs of rivers , aquifers and human consumption levels.

Catchment modelling

Looks like it is measured. Now the question is if the government (local and central) take note of it.