I was cleaning up my son's water bottle. It was half-empty. Rather half-full, as they say.

As I emptied the remaining water in the wash basin, my elder daughter objected to it. "Why are you wasting water..?" - she asked me.

"But it was yesterday's and could cause infections if used today. A bottle of water costs Rs.13, while the doctor's fee and medicines costs much more " - I said.

My daughter looked at me with dismay.

"How does one price a bottle of water..?" - my daughter asked." I want to understand it"

"Ok.." - I said "To determine the price of anything, manufacturers determine the elements and value of each element. Then they add it up to determine its price".

"Oh.." - she said "What are the elements here and what is their value..?

"The first element is the bottle. The value of the bottle is determined by the cost to make a bottle. Next element is the bottling expenses. The value of it is the actual cost of bottling the water in a safe way. Then comes the distribution element. The value of distribution is the cost of marketing the brand of water to you. Then comes the determination of their own value in integrating all these values. That is their margin or profit" - I said.

My daughter listened patiently. "What is the cost of making..? Is it the cost of replacing the item, when it is used up?" - she asked

"Yes.. very much. Cost of making is the cost of replacement of an item.." - I said.

"But.. But what is the value of water in whatever u said..?" - she asked.

"Oh.. the value of water.. ? I told you about bottling right..? That involves the cost of pumping out water etc.." - I said.

"But that is not the value of water.. For value of every item, you said value is equal to the cost of making it.. But you are evaluating water based on the cost of pumping it and not making it. What will be the cost to replace the lost water..?" - she said.

"No dear.. water is an abundantly.. . " - As I said, I bit my tongue. It dawned on me that water is no longer an abundantly available resource.

"But.. how do we value water as such ..?" - I asked myself loudly.

"Probably the cost to replace the used up water or cost of making it" - my daughter said. "Cost of making an item is the value of the item isn't it.?"

"But to make water out of thin air is simply going to be prohibitively expensive. Nobody can buy it then." - I said. "Even assuming water can be made from oceans, ocean water may become scarce at some point of time. In fact, as scientific technologies leapfrog, technologies can dwarf any hitherto abundantly available resource in their reckless consumption and make them scarce. Even thin air or space as a resource may become scarce for ever expanding science and technology".

"If you do not value a resource properly, then people like you are going to buy it and drain it down. Isn't it..?" - she asked. "And it only means that at any point all resources need to be exploited to the minimum, in spite of their availability at that point of time, as they cannot be easily replaced"

"That's true.." - I said "Water, fuel and in general all natural resources are like money available in the bank. Very Finite. Since human civilizations assumed they are infinite resources, we have built up economic models that consume these recklessly. Particularly new age economic models do not apportion proper value to these resources based on the assumption that these resources are infinite and the cost is only on conversion, while in reality these are finite resources. Reckless exploitation has become the hallmark of our economics and technology"

"Stop lecturing" - my daughter said "See that drop of water dripping out of the bottle still. Your money in the bank is going down the drain"

I mockingly dived to hold it my palm.

-TBT