Weblog owner: Sandor Willems Function: Sales and opportunity re-booster, VIQUA, The Netherlands Profile: Sandor Willems (The Netherlands) has been involved in a variety of roles with market leaders in several industries. Sandor has a passion for water treatment and writing.

Here we are again. A new dawn, a new day, a new year. What will 2012 have in store for us? More pollution, more flooding, more bacteria outbreaks, more boil-advisories, increasing water tariffs? Does that all sound optimistic or what? Not really, does it? But this is however what we can expect in 2012.  Yes, the glass is half empty or half full, depending on your perception of the world. But if the quality of that glass of water is far from ideal, you are probably glad it is only half empty, not half full.

Unfortunately we already started the year not at our best. Just think about the incident with the Costa Concordia, happening on Friday the 13th (!) of January close to the Tuscan coast in front of Giglio Island, in the midst of the Tyrrhenian Sea, the heart of Mediterranean Sea. A human error that resulted in several people getting killed and surrounding waters to be severely polluted.

The start of a new year is also a sign for many governments and municipalities to increase water tariffs again. Just this week it was announced that the water price will increase in Bucharest, Romania, in Ukraine and in Russia. The inhabitants of Bucharest are probably used to this price increase as Bucuresti’s tariffs have increased on average by 36 percent during its 12 years of holding a monopoly position in Bucharest. The water price in Ukraine was actually not supposed to go up but due to the everlasting gas dispute between Ukraine and Russia, costs have gone up and the government is looking for an alternative way making some money. So let me see if I get this right; if a government wants to make some money they just increase the price of water, what should be a commodity, provided by that same government? That sounds quite awful but is common practice in several countries. In Russia it’s even worse. In the last two decades several Russian regions have seen large price increases that appear to bear little or no relation to the quality of services provided or the rate at which general prices are increasing in the economy. Water utility companies in Russia are widely thought of as corrupt and inefficient. Even worse, in a large number of regions, especially those who are more remote and in rural areas, water tariffs are used by local politicians as a tool to increase their own wealth at the expense of the local population. Clean and safe drinking water should be a given for all but is more a “money maker” for some of these corrupted politicians.

Mother Nature will take its toll on some of us in 2012 as well I am afraid. Water shortages and flooding is happening on quite a large scale and as it seems it will only get worse.  Therefore, we better keep our eyes open and take some more control in our own hands. The amount of people using their own private water supply for their water consumption is increasing. Rainwater harvesting is such an example where people catch rainwater, store it in a tank undergrounds and bring it back up with a pump. This grey water is then reused for gardening, car washing, flushing the toilet or for laundering. A great way to decrease drinking water usage up to 50%. Yes, 2012 will be challenging. Like every year it will have its challenges. But there are definitely some upsides. Reuse water, have your own water supply, take more control of the quality of your water and stop buying plastic bottles of water. If treated well, you can have safe and good tasting water right out of your tap at home. A new year has started; January has already almost passed, eleven more months to come. Ready, set, GO!

Sandor Willems

swillems@viqua.com

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