Continuing our discussion around the basic needs, this is the first installment of many on water. Water, like food, is one of the basic needs that Prophet Muhammad (saw) outlined as a right that a person has:
“The son of Adam has no right to anything except these: a house to live in, a clothing to cover his ‘Awrah (parts of body that must be covered in public), a chunk of bread, and water.” [Tirmidhi].
Water, as renewable resource, really brings out the Islamic concepts of “care taking”: we have an obligation to safeguard the resources that we have been entrusted with.
Don’t Waste Water!
As a child of South Asian parents, I was often told not to waste water. Resource conservation is built-in into our culture. However, this concept does Islamic roots:
"That the Messenger of Allah (saw) happened to pass by Sa'd as he was performing ablution. Whereupon he said: Sa'd what is this squandering? Sa'd said: Can there be any idea of squandering (israf) in ablution? Whereupon he (the Prophet) said: Yes, even if you are by the side of a flowing river”. [Ibn Majah]
Why should we care about water wastage?
The earth is 70% covered by water. However, freshwater is only 2.5% of that total water. Allah (swt) draws our attention to this division:
“And it is He who has released [simultaneously] the two seas, one fresh ad sweet and one salty and bitter, and He placed between them a barrier and prohibiting partition. [TMQ 25:53]
Zooming out beyond the luxurious lifestyles in the Capitalist-West, we have the reality that over a billion people are not getting this need met. According to UNICEF:
“Some 2.2 billion people around the world do not have safely managed* drinking water services, 4.2 billion people do not have safely managed sanitation services, and 3 billion lack basic** handwashing facilities.” [see the link for the footnotes]
This is the reality of "progress." Capitalism has been a dominant force on the planet for centuries, especially in the last 6 decades. And yet people are hurting for the most basic ingredients: water.
Consumerism: Water’s #1 enemy?
The trouble, however, is when we look at water wastage from an individualistic lens. The real problems lie in the supply chains that work in the background exploiting the water to make the items that we buy. There’s a name for this: "virtual water." Three examples that really highlight the issue are Coke, clothing and consumer electronics.
Before Koch, there was Coke: Although the billionaire Koch Brothers have attracted the ire of activists for using "dark money" to buy the political system, we shouldn’t forget about Coke. Around 2007, Coke had become the target of a boycott for using up water that Indian farmers needed for their crops. According to an activist site, the water levels were stable in Rajasthan (a desert state) until Coke came. The website mentions that locals saw their water drop 10 meters in the following 5 years. They also used PR front groups to fight a New York City soda tax, which was being levied to fight the obesity epidemic in America.
Coca-Cola uses about 300 billion litres of water per year. According to an article published on the Verge, it takes about 70 litres to produce 1 litre of Coke. Going back to the concept of "virtual water"; 69 litres represents the hidden amount of water required to manufacture this sugary cocktail of unhealthiness. This is a conservative estimate; Wall Street Journal puts it at 250 litres, and Indian activists put it at 400 litres. Breaking it down, 56 litres of that goes into sugar, 14 litres to make the plastic bottle and about 0.8 litres of "operational water" (i.e. water used in the actual manufacturing process). Although they claim to replenish every drop, they are only referring to the water in the bottle of Coke, not the total water used in the production process. So, the water “replenished” would be 1 litre or 1/70th of the overall "water footprint" (as discussed in the same Verge article).
If we assume that 70% of this water is for soft-drinks, that means the soda industry consumes about 420 billion litres of water (Coke has about 50% of the industry). If we use the daily estimate of 50L/per person, this would be enough water to solve the water crisis for 23 million people (annually); roughly the population of Taiwan.
Clothing: How thirsty is the cotton plant?
Uzbekistan is home to the one the greatest Capitalist-sponsored tragedies of our time:
Aral Sea, Uzbekistan: 1989 to 2014
As can be seen in the photo in 1989, the Aral Sea exists. However, in 2014, it is completely gone. The tragedy speaks to the thirst of the cotton crop. Uzbekistan is the 7th largest cotton crop, and 1.47M hectares of cotton had to get that water from somewhere. Of course, the real issue is the fashion industry. Its insatiable appetite for profits translates into an unquenchable thirst for water:
But how much does the fashion industry use as a whole? According to a 2017 report co-authored by the Boston Consulting Group (BCG), it currently utilizes 79 trillion litres of water, and it is expected to consume 118 trillion by 2030. The increase equates to the annualized drinking needs of 2.13 billion human beings.
What about consumer electronics?
We discussed previously, the 90 billion pounds of e-waste generated per year. Unfortunately, the tragedy doesn’t stop there, with these dumpster-destined goods. They are also consumers of virtual water. For smartphones, it is estimated to have consumed that 9 of the top 10 manufacturers used 200 billion litres. The study estimated that the “overall company footprints" for these conglomerates were 22 trillion litres of water.
Free Markets & Water: Why don’t they mix?
Does it make sense to consume cola, (excess) clothing and consumer electronics, when billions don't have access to water for their basic needs?
Prophet Muhammad (saw) said:
“The Muslims are partners in three, water, pastures and fire” [Ahmed]
What this teaches us is that water is not meant to be subject to market forces. More importantly, what drives their consumption should not be the highest bidder. Instead, it must go to people who need it for their living. One's need is the distribution mechanism, and the ruler must work to ensure that everyone's needs met. Once that's achieved, then it can be allocated for the "nice to haves" of life.
Capitalism propagates the mistaken idea that human beings having an indistinguishable array of needs and wants. But the fine print lies in who can access goods: the one who can afford it. So any good or service, including water, will only be accessible by those who have sufficient funds. Consequently, cola, clothing and consumer electronics companies who have higher funds are granted priority access to water over those who needlessly suffer. For example, in Canada, Nestle can drain 265 million litres of water from the city of Hope (in British Columbia). In contrast, some Native communities don't have access to safe water for over 20 years.
Boycotts are a negotiating tactic to get the other side to meet you halfway. So, if the idea is to put pressure on a company to change its behaviour, then boycotts can be a useful tool. But they don’t work as well when we’re trying to overturn the apple cart . The belief that water can never be privatized clashes with Capitalism at its core. Additionally, it causes us to question the legitimacy of the following pillars of the economic system:
Freedom: Should the 1% be free to invest in cotton fields that drank the Aral Sea dry?
Individualism: Should we only care about ourselves and let people die from thirst and contradiction?
Consumerism: Should we get our spiritual needs met from buying things?
The Islamic answer to these questions is “no," and it offers the following alternatives to each of the above (in order):
Submission: Islam provides a framework for brotherhood and sisterhood that enables us to empathize with the suffering of all people. But it is built on the premise that we submit our will to the Creator. We are not free to invest as we please: “They say: "Trading is only like Riba (interest)," whereas Allah has permitted trading and forbidden Riba (interest).” [TMQ 2:275]
Community: Prophet Muhammad (saw), using the analogy of a human body, required us to be empathetic to our brothers who are thirsty, hungry or going through war. He (saw) said: "The example of the believers is like the body, if part of it hurts the rest of it is summoned" [Ahmed].
“Rightsizing" this life: The reality is that we are here, and then we are gone. Did it matter what car we drove, what clothes we wore and what was the size of our house? We can’t take any of these things with us when we die. Prophet Muhammad (saw) said: “The likeness of this world in comparison to the Hereafter is that of anyone of you dipping his finger into the sea: let him see what he brings forth.’” [ibn Majah]
We all know consumerism is spiritually toxic. We all know that it’s more fulfilling to care for others. So why can't we do anything about it? Because these concepts just can't be sprinkled on top, they need to be baked into the DNA of society - as part of our submission to the Creator. And until they are integrated at the core of society, water will continue to be wasted on cola, clothing and consumer electronics.
In the next post, we will look at industrial uses of water in sha Allah.