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Friday, September 11, 2009 Where's Flash Gordon when we need him? Ming the Merciless may be controlling the water supply. By BARBARA VENEZIA CONTRIBUTING COLUMNIST Super hero Flash Gordon traveled through rifts from earth to the planet Mongo. He tangled with the ruthless leader Ming the Merciless, (provider of the only safe drinking water – "source water" – to the tribes or "cantons" on Mongo). Water on Mongo was a rare and expensive commodity. Only those who met Ming's price and demands received the precious source water. (Yes, I'm a sci-fi geek, and proud of it!) So has science fiction created back in 1934 caught up with the reality of today? Has Ming traveled back through a rift? Is he secretly manipulating the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, which serves 19 million of us? Now Newport's proposing to pass increases on to residents, but is raising rates really about water shortages or about poor management? According to the OC Register, "The MWD's getting ready to "hike the pension formula for retirees by 25 percent. …That would cost some $70 million over the long haul, and comes at a curious time, when Met's investments in the California Public Employees' Retirement System have tanked at least $400 million." But Ming, uh, I mean MWD's general manager Jeff Kightlinger, says the new pension contract's a good deal because it contains "give-backs," possibly as much as $21 million over the five-year contract. For example, if an employee has unused sick pay or vacation time they'll have to pay that back. (Like that would happen in the real world.) Oddly enough, most women understand the twisted logic of "give-backs." Here's the simple version. You buy an item originally priced at $1,000.00 on sale for $500. You tell your husband you just saved him $500. Meanwhile you know darn well you can't afford to spend $500 in the first place. (By the way, this logic's never worked successfully in my house!) But has the MWD missed more than just the financial mark? Have they missed the technology boat too? If you look at earth from space, 72 percent of its surface is covered by water. The process of desalinization (turning sea water into usable water), has been advancing for years. Spain has more than 40 years of experience and considered a world leader in desalinization technology. According to the California Coastal Commission website, of the 7,500 desalinization plants world wide, 60 percent are located in the Middle East. Is water the "new" oil? July 14 2009 the publication Daily Science reported how UCLA researches were testing their new mini-mobile-modular (M3) "smart" water desalination and filtration system. Small enough to fit in the back of a van, the M3 can generate 6,000 gallons of drinking water per day from the sea or 8,000 to 9,000 gallons per day from brackish groundwater, producing enough drinking water daily for up to 6,000 to 12,000 people. In the MWD's January 2009 30-page progress report to the state Legislature, little more than a tiny paragraph appeared about some cities exploring desalinization. The majority of the report bragged how successful the MWD has been convincing the public to conserve water. If the MWD invested more in technology and less in union contracts, we wouldn't find ourselves paying more to use less. Where's Flash Gordon when you need him! |
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