Water as a Condition: A Framework for Water and Economic Value

Every investment, product and city assumes water will be there in a usable condition. When that condition changes, the value of everything that depends on it changes too. That's why I describe water as the denominator of value. Water is often treated as a sector. It behaves like a condition. It responds to every interaction, and the water one system returns becomes part of the starting condition of the next. Conditions carry their history with them, across loops of use, treatment and reuse, and across the systems water passes through. I connect the condition of a shared water system, each party's use of it, and verified improvement within it. The paper asks how evidence about these can relate to the financial positions of the parties that depend on that system. The condition is shared. The financial positions aren't.