Liquid Asset: How Business and Government Can Partner to Solve the Freshwater Crisis

O’Melveny’s Water Industry Group of counsel Buzz Thompson recently visited New York and Dallas to discuss his latest publication, Liquid Asset: How Business and Government Can Partner to Solve the Freshwater Crisis. The book tour is drawing strong interest from Water industry clients, as well as individuals with a general concern for the future of freshwater. 

Stanford University Press highlights the book’s policy-oriented account of how the world’s natural water supply has been managed: “In Liquid Asset, Barton H. Thompson, Jr. examines the growing position of the private sector in the ‘business of water.’ Thompson seeks to understand the private sector's involvement in meeting the water needs of both humans and the environment, looks at the potential risks that growing private involvement poses to the public interest in water, and considers the obstacles that private organizations face in trying to participate in a traditionally governmental sector. Thompson provides a richly detailed analysis to foster both improved public policy and responsible business behavior. As the book demonstrates, the story of private businesses and water offers a window into the serious challenges facing freshwater today, and their potential solutions.”

Prashanth ‘PJ’ Jayachandran, Senior Vice President and Chief Supply Chain Counsel for Colgate-Palmolive Company, and Alex Loucopoulos, partner at Sciens Water, joined Thompson at the Harvard Club in New York to discuss the global need for innovative new technologies, institutions, and financing to address the issues that inspired the book. The New York panel was moderated by O’Melveny partner and Environmental Practice head John Rousakis.

Thompson also joined O’Melveny partners Jason Schumacher and Whit Roberts, head of the Texas Corporate Group, in the firm’s Dallas office for a focused discussion of water issues specific to the state and the energy sector.

The well-attended events included lively Q&A sessions. As one of the few US law firms with a dedicated Water practice, led by partner Matt Kline, O’Melveny’s water attorneys are thought leaders on the legal issues related to global water challenges, and regularly counsel clients on the full spectrum of worldwide legal issues facing water investors and financiers, agricultural companies, major water users, and government agencies, including high-stakes transactions, complex litigation, and regulatory issues. The book tour has sparked significant engagement within the industry and opened up a broader discussion addressing the water crisis and its worldwide implications.

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