California’s water distribution systems lose up to 228 billion gallons a year, the state Department of Water Resources estimates — more than enough to supply the entire city of Los Angeles for a year.
The wasted water isn’t relegated to local areas in Southern California. The San Jose Mercury News reported about the Bay Area at the time, “Aging and broken pipes, usually underground and out of sight, have leaked enough water annually to submerge the whole of Manhattan by 5 feet — enough to meet the needs of 71,000 families for an entire year.”
I remember seeing Robin Williams as a guest on some kind of a talk show once; he was talking about Canada and how nice Canadians are, and then joked about how Americans were going to come for our water, saying it was no joke, actually, and I can certainly see, that wars could be fought over this most basic necessity of life. Monsanto has tried to take control of water resources in South American countries, buying off the corrupt governments to do so. Private corporations already own 5 percent of the world's fresh water.