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.