Jamie Koerner

    If the water in Nebraska is not conserved and kept clean, we could be in a detrimental position for water supply in the future.
     "The Price of Water," aired on NET Television June 13, presented information about the serious issue in Nebraska. It will show two more times in June on NET Television.
     The documentary discussed "where our water comes from, who uses it and for what purpose, and what are people doing to sustain Nebraska's water for the future," according to the NET website.
     Approximately 10 Natural Resource District (NRD) offices around the state of Nebraska and a government task force in Lincoln hosted an event for the first showing of the documentary.
     The Upper Big Blue NRD office, York, showed the documentary, with popcorn and water provided, and had a panel of NRD board members and water conservation experts present to answer questions.
     Scott Snell, public relations director for the Upper Big Blue NRD, who helped to plan the showing at York College, York, said the event was a success.
     The Upper Big Blue NRD monitors a portion of Seward County's natural resources.
     "A lot of people walked away with new knowledge on the status of water in Nebraska," Snell said.
     "The Price of Water," was a good representation of what the public needs to know about water conservation, but it is just the tip of the iceberg, Snell said.
     According to "The Price of Water," of all the water 326 million trillion gallons of water on Earth, three percent is fresh water. Two percent of that is frozen in glaciers; so, only one percent is available for people to drink.
     During the documentary, Ann Bleed, the director of the Nebraska Department of Natural Resources, said that Nebraska needs to either ignore the areas of the state that are experiencing water decrease or "try to manage our supplies so that they can be sustained."
     "The Price of Water," said that the water supply can be sustained if the people of Nebraska work to keep it clean and use it in ways that is not wasteful.
     The one-hour documentary covers the largest fresh water resource Nebraska, the Ogallala Aquifer, education of youth on water conservation, electricity production from water, endangered species on the lower Platte River, farming and irrigation and a clean-up project on the Missouri River.
     The next showing of "The Price of Water" on NET Television is Thursday, June 21, at 9 p.m. (NET1) and Wednesday, June 27, at 11 a.m. and 4 p.m. (NET2). For more information see the NET Television website (http://www.netnebraska.org/television).
     "[The documentary] was a good primer, but the question was raised if future documentaries could be made to compliment ["The Price of Water"] and go into more detail."
     Snell said one option for a follow-up documentary could be a detailed account of all venues that consume the supply of water including the following uses: agriculture, municipal, domestic, industrial, recreation, environmental and hydroelectric power use.
     "Water, in its simplist form, is virtually used in everything," Snell said.
     He said that paper is one example. It takes water to make the tree grow, to make pulp for pressing paper and to fill the radiator of the truck that transports the paper.
     "I believe that water is precious enough that it will become more valuable than gold, more valuable than oil," Snell said. "It is the essence for everything."