What if water-scarce S'pore were to become food-scarce too? Should we eat...

I commented on what seems to be a resurgence of conservatism in American politics yesterday. Why is it important to watch if this is indeed the trend ahead of the US presidential election next year? Put it this way, at a time of a rising China, an inward-looking and even isolationist America is not good for us. The article below, "The Middle American Revolt", by a conservative writer, says a lot:

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2011/jun/21/the-middle-american-revolt/

--------------------------------------------------

Moving on to the "politics of water", this segment of an interview in yesterday's ST (21 June) with a Canadian water expert who -- together with his wife, also a water expert -- had a discussion with Mr Lee Kuan Yew on the water issue, also says a lot:

[Mr Lee] is the only leader in the world who’s been interested in water [note: I daresay Israeli leaders think about water all the time too]. And we asked him: What, initially, got him interested in water? He said two things: One was that when he was a young man during the Japanese Occupation, the British blew up the Causeway to stop the Japanese from coming to Singapore. And below the Causeway was the pipe that was bringing water in from Malaysia [correction: from then Malaya]. So Singapore had only one week’s supply of water left and that made him realise how dependent they were on water from outside.

The second thing he said was that after Singapore became an independent country in 1965, the British High Commissioner came to see him and told him that the Malaysian prime minister Tunku Abdul Rahman had told him that Singapore would have to do exactly what Malaysia wants, otherwise they would turn off the tap. So Mr Lee brought the best people in Singapore together and said, “Tell me how much rain falls in Singapore, and how much of it we can collect.” And from then on, he had three to four people in his office all the time to decide whether some development could go on or not, depending on the water used. – Canadian water expert Professor Asit Biswas, in an interview with The Straits Times (“Plumbing Singapore’s water story,” 21 June, page A21).

----------------------------------------------------------

Singapore now gets its water supply from four sources:

* Malaysia -- as stipulated in two binding water pacts, one of which expires later this year (2011);

* Our own reservoirs and other local catchment supplies;

* Desalinated water, which was prohibitively expensive until recently (it still is expensive);

* Newater -- reclaimed water, including what we flush down the toilets but super-filtrated and ultra-treated until it is, ahem, drinkable.

Which brings me to my concluding item, something from today's Digital Life supplement of ST:

"On reports that a Japanese scientist has synthesised meat from human faeces...

I would rather go vegan than eat that. Jonathan Sze.

Excellent solution for Third World countries and [their] hunger-stricken citizens? I don't think I can stomach this... the very thought makes me want to barf! Jeanette Koh.

No way I will eat this! I don't mind mock meat made from soya, but not artificial meat from human faeces. Hamzah Darwi."