http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20130612/letters/letters1.html

This is an excellent letter from Elizabeth Seltzer, and what she says is important for Treasure Beach--and all of Jamaica. If Jamaica's water supply goes under the control of a private company, this could be an absolute and permanent disaster for every resident of our island.

how much hardship does the government of jamaica think her people can take
this would be a disaster for all of jamaica
pray that it is just idle/foolish chat of a politician

If true, this signals the beginning of the end for our little jewel. I pray that the Jamaican people will remember their proud history and realize they have the potential to prevent something like this from happening.

Learn how to set up water catchment, storage and frugal use of water.

Elizabeth Seltzer, in her letter at the top of this thread, cites the case where there was an attempt to privatize the water of Bolivia's third largest city. She says that corporation was Cargill, but it was actually the corporate giant, Bechtel. On the PBS.org website, you'll see there have been several documentaries about that nasty business. There have been documentaries about it, and it would be easy enough to hold showings of them across the island: THE THIRST, LEASING THE RAIN, BLUE GOLD, THE CORPORATION. And there is an excellent dramatization of it all, with other stuff tossed in, called EVEN THE RAIN.

http://www.pbs.org/search/?q=bechtel%20water%20privatization%20bolivia

It wasn't so long ago that one in nine people on earth didn't have sufficient potable water. Now that number is one in six. We fret about oil, but it's not long before water becomes our most precious resource. Without it, we can't live, and we all know that. Or should.

Every person, every Jamaican knows this. If Jamaicans don't rise up in numbers, as the people of Bolivia did, the results could be dire.

The people of Treasure Beach already know their water supply is pretty shaky, except in times of hurricanes. Farmers mulch, a few guest houses like Vikings collect rain water. But the good people of TB have also made mistakes. They have fished out the waters along the coast, they burn all manner of trash, releasing noxious pollutants into the air, and they didn't seem to mind that the canal was ill-conceived and rammed through without proper engineers on the job.

Let's hope the people of Treasure Beach and their brothers and sisters throughout Jamaica don't blow this one.

God Bless Elizabeth. Jerry

I believe there was a recent report of finds of natural gas in Jamaica. If this is true, I can see how powerful hands will want to hold water rights on the island. Enormous amounts of water is used in "fracking" to extract the gas.

... and then the water from wells where there is fracking can actually catch fire. Fracking is extremely dangerous and should not, in my opinion, be allowed anywhere.

Fracking? If fracking is allowed in Jamaica, goodbye Jamaica.

Check out the documentary, GASLAND. And now, it seems, GASLAND II has been made, because the problems with fracking have become so much worse. Oh woe!

A landmark federal study on hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, shows no evidence that chemicals from the natural gas drilling process moved up to contaminate drinking water aquifers at a western Pennsylvania drilling site, the Department of Energy told The Associated Press.

After a year of monitoring, the researchers found that the chemical-laced fluids used to free gas trapped deep below the surface stayed thousands of feet below the shallower areas that supply drinking water, geologist Richard Hammack said.

Although the results are preliminary — the study is still ongoing — they are a boost to a natural gas industry that has fought complaints from environmental groups and property owners who call fracking dangerous.

Drilling fluids tagged with unique markers were injected more than 8,000 feet below the surface, but were not detected in a monitoring zone 3,000 feet higher. That means the potentially dangerous substances stayed about a mile away from drinking water supplies.

Brian: suggest you watch GASLAND.

I'd be suspicious of any "landmark federal study" that "boosts" the natural gas industry and its fracking. And it behooves the feds to not mess with the natural gas industry. We are energy gluttons, and still resist putting our resources into wind and solar energy. We also resist conserving energy. In our local supermarket parking lot, you can hardly find a spot to park in that isn't boxed in by huge pickups and SUVs.

Brian, there are US Federal studies that will show almost any results the US Government wants people to believe. (The US Government is not the only group doing that. Many, many studies are designed so the results come out to be what is desired--even though they are untrue.)

Here is a good article written by a man who was the executive vice president of Mobil Oil Corporation for 31 years. Now he is finally speaking out about the dangers of fracking. He says, "It will take masses of people demanding action from politicians to offset the huge amount of money that the industry is using to influence lawmakers. Something has to wake up the general public. It will either be education from the environmental movements or some kind of climate disaster that no one can ignore."

For the full interview, go to http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/17605-former-mobil-vp-warns-of-fracking-and-c limate-change

Watch Gasland and Gasland 2.

Common sense of the very procedure shows it could never be a good thing.

.... there are US Federal studies that will show almost any results the US Government wants people to believe. (The US Government is not the only group doing that. Many, many studies are designed so the results come out to be what is desired--even though they are untrue.)"

So, is it possible that the sources you cite are looking for results that are desired but untrue?
Maybe including Gasland

"So, is it possible that the sources you cite are looking for results that are desired but untrue?

Exactly Brian.

Brian, [edited by TB.Net] How could it POSSIBLY be safe to drill through the bedrock, thousands of feet below ground, through and beyond groundwater then pump MILLIONS of gallons of water laced with over 100 chemicals many of which are not revealed by the oil companies and then cause multiple FRACTURES of the bedrock and surrounding ground so far down to extract gas?

So, you mean to tell me that all those chemicals being forced into our water table are somehow extracted and safely removed by their process (when their industry figures admit a 50% fail

rate of the cement caps after 20 years- and there is a fail rate of 10% on the concrete casing AT INSTALL?)

Sometimes it is a lot more comfortable to believe when people tell you everything is ok.

I suppose that self-made millionaire featured on Gasland 2 who spent 5 years building his mansion with pool,waterfall etc. and had to move as it was done as nearby fracking caused his water to become explosive (due to the above mentioned concrete failures and introduction of methane into the water) was just posing for the story???