Bloomingtonians have reason for concern regarding their water supply, but they do not share this burden alone. Coming from a region where we live in perpetual drought, it was upsetting the first time we discussed that Bloomingtonian's don't register water availability as a possible issue. Many regions of the U.S. and throughout the globe face the prospects of limited water availability. The perspective that clean water is abundant is a luxury of living in a first world country, and the idea that it's here to stay is short-sighted and neglects to display an understanding of nature - that it cannot be contained. For this reason everyone should be concerned about water supply.
During the short period of time it blesses our communities, we should be carefully maintaining our water supplies for as long as we are able. This should be done by pricing water according to its true value, encouraging conservation (which we have already discussed at length), and searching and implementing alternative technologies that allow for more efficient uses of water (because individuals no longer obtain water on their own but are dependent on systems over which they have little control). Because water is a natural, dynamic system, ownership of water shifts over time when it falls into another lake or drains into another aquifer. So we must also show water stewardship toward our neighboring regions to ensure access to water after it has left our regions - something Atlanta (p.30) and Arizona have yet to learn in their regional water dealings.
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