When Water Bows to Market Demands, So May Its Science

Does it not seem strange that we pay (much) less for water, a life essential, than for diamonds (for now at least)? This was noticed by Plato, articulated as the “water–diamond paradox” by Adam Smith, and partially explored by Karl Marx at the start of his critique of political economy. Humanity, the self-proclaimed “calculating animal,” has been setting values, measuring, and determining prices for millennia. Yet, one might ask without seeming absurd: given this lengthy history of valuation, how have we come to misconstrue the concept of “true” value so drastically? This paradoxical scenario is especially evident in the realm of water science and management where capitalist pressures have transformed water—a resource of unquestionable use value—into an entity gauged by its exchange value (i.e., the market price dictated by supply and demand).