In our 7 years of wandering, we have seen a huge drop in water quality in the US. Most city water systems taste terrible. People routinely purchase bottled water instead of drinking from the city supply. When we started, we saw bottled water only in Mexico. Now it is everywhere in the US.

Water systems have been privatized and in many small communities the costs have shot up and the management has become negligent. Many are foreign owned. So the small towns are trying to buy them back, but the systems have been so poorly maintained, (to maximize profit), that the costs are breaking the towns budgets.

Yet we see no real concern among folks. Water has always been there, will always be there, they say as they reach in the fridge for a bottle. My sister pays over a dollar a gallon for water delivered to her door near Chicago. She can afford it, I could not.

I understand that in West Texas, a commercial venture has purchased water rights under rules designed to favor the oil business. So drilling you own well is now forbidden, or if allowed, you have to pay to pump, and water costs are beginning to climb.

Yet nobody seems the least bit concerned.