Kudos to Marketplace for the month-long series they ran in February—Water: The High Price of Cheap.
If you didn’t catch it on the radio, it’s definitely worth a listen. The series explores the many different dimensions of water. Contributors from the Virgin Islands to California share very personal stories about their individual connections to water. Another story looks at the dire state of water infrastructure in the city of Baltimore as an example of the national need to invest in the systems that bring water to and from homes and business across America. There are visionary stories about the future of water—how, for example, DC Water is turning human waste into a resource—creating both economic and environmental benefits.
The Marketplace series left listeners with some valuable takeaways: as a nation, we take water for granted. We don’t pay what we should for it. And it is time to chart a new course to ensure quality water service for future generations.
Water: The High Price of Cheap is a great piece of journalism, but there are so many more water stories to tell. Every community in America relies on water, as does our economy. So many sectors, from agriculture to manufacturing, are utterly dependent without water. We at the Value of Water hope more media outlets will follow Marketplace’s lead and find new ways to tell the story of water —it’s essential, invisible, and invaluable.
