As the global warming phenomenon pours attention on the booming carbon trading market (over $30 billion in allowances last year), water has fallen to the curb. Clean water is by far the most basic requirement for sustaining human life and can actually be considered a prerequisite for peace especially in developing countries.

We are all aware of the giant business that is bottled water but how much is a pure source of natural water worth today in the open market? How much will it be worth fifty years from now, more than gold? The soon to begin construction Pascua Lama project at the foothills of the majestic Andean Mountains is evidence that when compared to gold, the value of water even an almost eternal source of the purest in the world is almost negligible.

The Pascua Lama project by the Barrick Corporation consists of literally moving glaciers around to get to the gold and silver underneath and then supposedly putting them back. I say supposedly because it has never been done before and it’s a daunting undertaking to say the least. These glaciers make up the Cuenca Hidrografica de Huasco, a source of pure glacial water in the northern border of Chile (my beloved country of origin) and Argentina which feeds more than 20 rivers that lead to the agricultural region below.

Of course the approval process of this project has had to deal with a lot of environmental controversy because of the cyanide and mercury that is used in this type of mining project. These harmful chemicals will inevitably pollute the rivers below changing the local environment forever. There have been some semi-organized protest from locals but these have since been quieted down with promises of social assistance. Lawsuits have been filed in a constant back and forth dating back to 2000 but Corema, the regional environmental agency and the Argentinean and Chilean governments have already approved the project.

The only local benefits of this giant industrial operation are the influx of commerce and jobs in the region and some infrastructure development. The project is estimated to have only a 23-year life, after which the Barrick Corporation moves on. So the question is, what happens to this community once the rich contractors have moved on and their only source of water is forever compromised? The deal is literally (17 million ounces of gold + 689 million ounces of silver + an irreplaceable source of pure water) in exchange for a 23-year influx of capital and urban development in the region. The investment in social assistance by Barrick is of course negligable compared to market value of the presious metals extracted . Is this a fair trade?

A chain letter I received somewhat late a few weeks ago seams to have gotten enough attention on the issue that Barrick felt compelled to post a web page responding to it. Unfortunately it looks like the project is all set to go and there is no stopping it now. I think this was still worth posting about as a glaring example of the other types of social and environmental assaults still taking place today with very little exposure from the mainstream media as they invest all their attention on the popular global warming story lines. We must find a way to balance our attention and take into consideration broader environmental issues instead of becoming consumed with just the current popular one.

Here are the immortal words of Chief Seattle as a response to the governor of Washington’s wish to buy their land in 1854, the words are even more relevant today than when first spoken over 150 years ago