Water & Oil Don’t Mix…
Water. It covers 75 percent of the surface of our planet, yet unsafe drinking water is the single greatest killer in the world. Roughly half of the developing world suffers from illnesses caused by contaminated water supplies.
Drinking water is the story of empire. Since prehistoric times, human settlements have been located near safe drinking water.
Access to water is power. In countries where communal or free water sources are too far away, or contaminated, the poor must purchase their water from private providers such as street vendors and tanker trucks.
The prices are always high, the scarcer the commodity the higher the price, which results in the poorest people in society paying the most for their water.
In many developing countries women and girls bear the brunt of of water collecting, spending most of their days at this endless task. This means they have no opportunities for employment or education which perpetuates gender inequality and their continued poverty.
Here in New Brunswick we enjoy a vast wealth of pure, clean water…from our major rivers, to the countless lakes, streams, brooks and natural springs our province is blessed with.
So much water we take it for granted. We just turn on a tap, and voila! A bounty of fresh, safe water flows out that is unimaginable to half the people in the world!
We take this apparently inexhaustible supply of fresh water as our birthright, and so many people simply cannot picture a life without water.
But folks in communities that have lost their water supplies from hydro-fracking contamination and pipeline spills have learned the hard way just how fragile their water supply really was.
Once gas, oil or the toxic and carcinogenic chemicals used in the fracking process infiltrate the aquifers, wells and watersheds of a region, there is no going back.
Animals and crops sicken and die, people can no longer bathe with their tap water, let alone drink it….and yet this tragic scenario is apparently perfectly acceptable to our government which is chomping at the bit to allow our natural resources to be exploited by oil and gas companies.
There’s no denying that NB needs jobs and industry, but rather than exploring sustainable, healthy options such as green energy or hemp production or medical marijuana, the government is willing to sell us all out, and the generations to come, all for a handful of gold. And a pat on the head from the multinational oil and gas corporations!
Stephanie Kelley
