Mastering the Commodities Markets

CONCEPT OF ‘PEAK WATER’

Experts predict that we are approaching, or possibly have passed, the point of global maximum production of oil, or ‘peak oil’. The implications of reaching this point for energy policy are profound, for a range of economic, political and environmental reasons.

However, are we now approaching a comparable point of ‘peak water’, at which we run up against natural limits to availability or human use of freshwater?

Thus far, the concept of ‘peak water’ has focused on local water scarcity and challenges. In areas where water is scarce, the seeming nature of water constraints and their implications are already apparent. As the costs of transporting bulk water from one place to another are so high, if a region’s water use exceeds ...