22. Valuing Water 珍惜水资源

① Humanity uses a little less than half the water available worldwide.Yet occurrence of shortages and droughts are causing famine and distress in some supplies.Since the world's population is expected to double in the next 50 years,many experts think we are on the edge of a widespread water crisis.

② But that doesn't have to be the outcome.Water shortages do not have to trouble the world——if we start valuing water more than we have in the past.Just as we began to appreciate petroleum more after the 1970s oil crises,today we must start looking at water from a fresh economic perspective.We can no longer afford to consider water as a virtually free resource of which we can use as much as we like in any way we want.

③ Instead,for all uses except the domestic demand of the poor,governments should price water to reflect its actual value.This means charging a fee for the water itself as well as for the supply costs.Governments should also protect this resource by providing water in more economically and environmentally should ways.

④ No matter what steps governments take to provide water more efficiently,they must change their their institutional and legal approaches to water use.Rather than spread control among hundreds or even thousands of local,regional,and national agencies that watch various aspects of water use,countries should set up central authorities to coordinate water policy.