Water, or more specifically, irrigation, is an industry already going through what many signposts indicate the future holds for energy. Water is the backbone of life. We can live without power, but we can't without water. The most important resource battles being waged today in the United States are not over energy. They're over water. Wars have been fought over water. And, as demand for this precious resource increases, more wars will be fought -- mainly in court here in America, on the battlefield in other parts of the world. Fresh water resources are scarce. More battles loom. The lesson that was missed by the electric companies is that they apparently did not take seriously the fact that the water would continue to deplete, and instead of investing wisely in transmission and distribution, they invested poorly -- and are now starting to live with millions of dollars worth of what eventually will become stranded assets. We'll come back to "stranded assets" in a minute ... |