Massachusetts Water Forum 2014

Sponsored by Representative Liz Malia, the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority (MWRA) and the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (MassDEP), the 2nd Annual Massachusetts Water Forum was held at the State House on March 18, 2014 in honor of the UN World Water Day.  It was organized by the local nonprofit, Foundation for a Green Future, Inc. to help educate our state legislators about the importance of water.  The theme of this year's World Water Day was "Water and Energy" to highlight the intrinsic connection between the two.  It takes three barrels of water to extract one barrel of oil.  There is less than 1% of all water on the planet available to us as fresh drinking water.  How do we prioritize water for energy and food? How will we deal with the pressures of a world population of 9 billion people, strained resources and wide disparities in water availability?

In the Forum's discussion, many points were brought out concerning the Commonwealth's supply of water and to what extent we take water for granted.  It appears that water in our Commonwealth is undervalued given the low prices we pay for it.  Mr. Fred Laskey, Executive Director of MWRA, pointed out that the City of Boston is using less water now than in the early 1900s.

A suggestion was made to the legislators in attendance to consider handing out water bottles to their constituents during their election campaigns and help educate residents about drinking water from the tap.  

Panelist Ms. Lauren DeRusha of Corporate Accountability International, pointed out that the cost of drinking water from a bottle of water is so exorbitant - 10,000 times more than from the tap.  On the average it costs $10 for one gallon of bottled water and it costs only .00595 cents for one gallon of tap water - or less than $6 for 1000 gallons of tap water. Imagine if all the money people spend on bottled water were put back into the system to repair pipes and keep our water supply safe, suggested Panelist Joe Favaloro, Executive Director of the MWRA Advisory Board.  In fact, Senator Jamie Eldridge, Representative Carolyn Dykema and Representative Frank Smizik are working hard to have a set of bills pass into law to maintain our water infrastructure and to maintain clean water through innovative and environmentally-friendly best management practices.  

Dr. Seth Sheldon, Senior Scientist of EnergyPoints, moderated the panel and raised the question of water scarcity.  Kathleen Baskin, Director of Water Policy for the State of Massachusetts in the Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs, maintained that Massachusetts is a water-rich state with strict limitations on how much water can be withdrawn from local sources.  The question that remains in the balance is in the face of drought across our nation, Massachusetts continues to have water.  What pressures will we face as a Commonwealth and how will we respond?