It’s still early spring in the UK and the government is already talking about water rationing. But researchers say that the rich use up to 50 times more water than the rest of us, with their regularly washed cars, private swimming pools, lush verdant gardens and well-watered golf courses and private estates.
In the last 23 years, over 80 large cities have faced extreme droughts, with global demand expected to outstrip demand by 2030. When the Day Zero drought hit Cape Town in 2018, the richest 14% of the population had used 51% of the water ‘for non-basic needs’, more than the poorest 62%.
Resources in capitalism are all about give and take – you give, the rich take.