Water rights: the next carbon emissions?

According to those good folks at the Independent water is set to be the next commoditised resource.

The paper says:

The right to use water will soon follow in the footsteps of carbon emissions and become a commodity, like the right to pollute, that industry will have to pay for, executives have warned.”In the not too distant future, we will see a price on water just like there is now for carbon and carbon emissions,” said Ditlev Engel, chief executive of Vestas Wind Systems. “It will have to be factored in as a cost.”

While the idea of water rationing for businesses sounds like a right royal pain in the arse for most companies, it’s not exctly a million miles away at the moment – food companies are already cutting back and water firms are working out how to fight shortages. It looks like the writing could be on the wall already.