Valuing Water’s True Worth

By Karla Olson Teasley, Illinois American Water President

How many times do you use water, directly or indirectly in a given day? Ten? Twenty? More? You’ve probably never thought about it. Yet, you’ve come to expect the quality and reliability that our nation’s water systems provide and that make our way of life possible. When asked, most Americans would say they care about water; they certainly depend on it. But do they value it? It’s a question not of semantics, but one that relates to the future of water in this country.

To value something means to understand its worth, its importance. Historically, Americans have undervalued water, thanks to effective systems that have brought safe, drinking water to homes and businesses, and for fire protection, but also because of a lack of awareness of the challenges facing our water infrastructure. In fact, a survey by Xylem Inc. in 2012 showed that 90 percent of Americans considered water an important service, on par with heat and electricity. Yet 69 percent said they took clean water for granted and less than 30 percent believed water infrastructure problems would affect them “a great deal.”

It’s an issue the Value of Water Coalition, a partnership involving the leading organizations responsible for ensuring the safety, reliability and sustainability of the country’s water, is aiming to resolve in its public education campaign that launched nationwide last month. I am proud to say Illinois American Water is one of the many public and private organizations that for the first time have joined together as a single, united voice, in pursuit of a common goal: to help people throughout the U.S. understand that the nation’s water systems are in need of significant investment to maintain the safety and performance levels we rely on, and that while our efforts have been successful, continuing as we always have is no longer sustainable.

There’s even more at stake. Just as people depend on clean and safe water, so does the entire U.S. economy. In its newly-released Importance of Water to the U.S. Economy report, the EPA highlights the fact that every sector of the U.S. economy is either directly or indirectly dependent on the output of industries that rely on water, especially energy and food production, and water supply, which rely nearly 100 percent on the nation’s water resources. From industries ranging from manufacturing to tourism, any drop in water supply or heightened competition for use will significantly impact economic development for the entire country. Changes in even just one sector or region can produce ripple effects across the whole economic system. Once again, awareness — in this case, of water’s true worth to our national economic welfare – is key.

Indeed, investing in water infrastructure pays off – in good-paying jobs to repair, replace and upgrade our aging water systems, which in turn will ensure safe and reliable water to attract and retain business and qualified workers, essential to creating healthy communities and keeps the U.S. competitive.

Backed by such efforts as the Value of Water Coalition and the EPA report, we in the water industry need customers to understand what’s at stake and what they would be getting in return. These education efforts are essential to the process, so that we can start making these investments now in order to ensure a clean, safe, and reliable supply of water for our children and all of our futures. And they will become increasingly important as demands on water resources, such as population growth and the impact of climate change, strain water supplies.

While the challenges we face are significant, they are not insurmountable. In fact, they can be viewed as drivers of the support necessary to institute real, and much-needed, change. The Importance of Water to the U.S. Economy report underscores the fact that decision-makers in both the public and private sections will need robust data and information tools to help them sustainably reduce risk and manage the nation’s precious water resources, and foster the economic and social welfare benefits they provide.

Ultimately, it comes down to gaining awareness of water’s true worth in all our daily lives. We depend on it to cook and clean. It is an essential component for a vital economy and environment, not to mention health and fire safety. We need it to exist.

What other resource delivers that much?

A Lost or an Evolving Language?

Dolores M. Klein, Peoria, IL

In recent years, Fox’s Bill O’Reilly has helped create a furor over saying HAPPY HOLIDAYS instead of MERRY CHRISTMAS. O’Reilly is more than just a purist in labeling negatively those who don’t say MERRY CHRISTMAS!

However, many oldsters are labeled purists because we notice the misuse of Standard English today. We have a “problem:” we went to school when English was taught by having us diagram sentences. Nouns, verbs, adverbs and adjectives were drummed into us.

Examples of misuse in all forms of the media: AFFECT and EFFECT, and TITLED and ENTITLED. The possessive APOSTROPHE is continually misused, with the last S in a name “appropriated” for the possessive S’.

A humorous example: I envision a tombstone being thrown when I hear that EPITAPHS were hurled in a rancorous argument, instead of EPITHETS! And am I the only one laughing when I read that someone being sought was found MILLING outside?

A tongue-in-cheek suggested Mother’s March on LIKE evidently wouldn’t have succeeded because all generations now include LIKE in sentences. (Even young athletes now say LIKE instead of YOU KNOW in interviews.) When the – to me – ponderous COMING FORTH is now commonly used instead of COMING FORWARD,

I have to ask, is this how language evolves, or are some of us a voice crying in the wilderness?Meantimes, Happy Holidays to all of us, even Bill O’Reilly!

The Common Core State Standards involve much more than education

by Terry Rowe, Peoria, IL

The first obvious issue is the vast amount of money involved in the educational industry. The money is the magnet that brings the Wall Street Hedge Fund Traders into the game.

The obscure issue is called Big Data. The long term rewards to those who control the data are almost beyond description. Think in terms of a complete personnel file, without competition, on every student on the planet, and then extend that file forward for forty years. The marketing potential will stagger the imagination.

The third issue is the opportunity to indoctrinate the future citizens of the world, not individual countries, without interference

and of Opportunity for Whom?

By Ed Klein, Peoria, IL

“The number of poor in America is 3 million higher than the official count, encompassing 1 in 16 residents due to out-of-pocket medical-related costs and work-related expenses.”

That from a recent AP news release. The new number of poor, we are told, is more reliable than the government figures because it factors in living expenses as well as the effects of government aid, such as food stamps and tax credits.

Those out-of-pocket expenses are the fly in the soup. They play a major role in forcing families into debt, bankruptcy and poverty. Flawed as it might be, the Affordable Care Act is attempting to remedy those problems. And given time, much like that which faced Social Security and Medicare, it will succeed and provide millions of Americans who have no medical insurance as well as those whose policies fail to offer the kind of coverage they need and can afford. Even in its formative stage, the Affordable Care Act is the closest we have come to a health care system that provides for all citizens.

With that in mind, it’s time to ask those who hate the president and Obamacare with a fanaticism bordering on madness, what plans they might have to address the unacceptable poverty these millions of Americans are facing. So far, little has been forthcoming. One fatuous suggestion has been offered by the great benefactor of the poor and elderly, Ted Cruz. He shows his love for them by offering unlimited capitalism as the way to handle the matter. But what his uninhibited capitalism does is support, not the poor, but the wealthy by cutting their taxes, maximizing returns for corporate shareholders at the expense of the workers, handling many super-profitable businesses unneeded tax breaks and subsidies, buying politicians; and with that, we are told, all will be well. For the one percent, that is.

There’s a failure here to understand that great wealth begets greed, and greed begets human exploitation. That is amply evident in the vicious attempts to destroy the unions, cut wages, and eliminate benefits for the poor by cutting food stamps, gutting Medicare, Medicaid and unemployment benefits. It matters little to those whose exploitation results in poverty … a poverty that leads to moral degradation and the collapse of human solidarity. All of which can have a devastating effect on the quality of life for millions of what we have been proud to call “the American way of life.”

The following quote from an editorial in The National Catholic Reporter sums this up nicely: “The closure of government last month and the once-again forestalled fight over the federal budget are manifestations of a deeper debate about what government should do for its citizens, and where a nation should invest its riches. We fear that poor people and the near poor have no advocates in that debate.” And they won’t unless you and I speak out and get behind those right-minded people who understand the perils we are facing, and have dedicated themselves to doing everything possible to keep America the land of opportunity for everyone, poor and rich alike.