What Do Water Values Look like?
It's easy to understand why the cultural values that shape water policies are so seldom acknowledged: They're invisible. We can see only the effects of the values but not the values themselves. I thought about this today while undergoing a colonoscopy for the first time in my life. A tiny video camera is inserted through the anus and on up into the large intestine for a visual inspection in search of any growths (polyps) that might develop into cancer. Though possibly dangerous, they can't be detected through any symptoms until it's too late. They have to be located visually through the ingenious technology of a tiny camera.
What if we could poke a camera inside our water policies and see if there are any dysfunctional cultural values that might pose a threat to the health of the water ecosystem? How would we distinguish between healthy policies and dangerous ones?
Values that support sustainable water use (and reuse) would be healthy; values that justify overpumping aquifers or contaminating streams would be dangerous. But what about those in-between values, found throughout the world, which rationalize the dewatering of rivers with the argument that there's not enough water for both people and rivers?
My colon doctor told me that small polyps on the intestinal wall might or might not be dangerous, but as a precaution, he removes them He operates on the basis of the precautionary principle that it's better to avoid situations that might kill the patient. That might be a good way to approach water values too. We know that healthy rivers are better -- both for us and for Nature -- than unhealthy ones. The precautionary principle suggests that rather than dewater rivers and contaminate streams, we should instead look for ways that both people and rivers can coexist in a mutually healthy arrangement.
The values that get in the way of co-existence with the natural world can safely be categorized as unhealthy, greedy, and dangerous. Too bad we don't have a screening technology that can reveal them. What we do have, however, are conferences where we can debate water policies and how healthy or dangerous they might be. Next week I will be in Stockholm, Sweden for the annual World Water Week (Sept 5-11) and will be leading a roundtable on the application of ethics to water policies, as part of a larger session on water governance and climate change organized by WWF, Conservation International, and IUCN. I'll be blogging about values, and will report if I find any dangerous ones that we should be worried about!
Shoreline of the Rhine River (taken May 2010), where changing cultural values have helped improve water quality
and, to some extent, river morphology as well.
What if we could poke a camera inside our water policies and see if there are any dysfunctional cultural values that might pose a threat to the health of the water ecosystem? How would we distinguish between healthy policies and dangerous ones?
Values that support sustainable water use (and reuse) would be healthy; values that justify overpumping aquifers or contaminating streams would be dangerous. But what about those in-between values, found throughout the world, which rationalize the dewatering of rivers with the argument that there's not enough water for both people and rivers?
My colon doctor told me that small polyps on the intestinal wall might or might not be dangerous, but as a precaution, he removes them He operates on the basis of the precautionary principle that it's better to avoid situations that might kill the patient. That might be a good way to approach water values too. We know that healthy rivers are better -- both for us and for Nature -- than unhealthy ones. The precautionary principle suggests that rather than dewater rivers and contaminate streams, we should instead look for ways that both people and rivers can coexist in a mutually healthy arrangement.
The values that get in the way of co-existence with the natural world can safely be categorized as unhealthy, greedy, and dangerous. Too bad we don't have a screening technology that can reveal them. What we do have, however, are conferences where we can debate water policies and how healthy or dangerous they might be. Next week I will be in Stockholm, Sweden for the annual World Water Week (Sept 5-11) and will be leading a roundtable on the application of ethics to water policies, as part of a larger session on water governance and climate change organized by WWF, Conservation International, and IUCN. I'll be blogging about values, and will report if I find any dangerous ones that we should be worried about!
Shoreline of the Rhine River (taken May 2010), where changing cultural values have helped improve water quality
and, to some extent, river morphology as well.
Posted by Dave Groenfeldt at 27 Aug 2010, 3:00 PM 
Categories: water values, water ethics
Tags: Rhine River Stockholm cultural values water policies. World Water Week water values colonoscopy ethics
Categories: water values, water ethics
Tags: Rhine River Stockholm cultural values water policies. World Water Week water values colonoscopy ethics
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