"You've created a resource pricier than oil . . ."

From the current issue of Men's Journal  by Paul Solotaroff - Who Stole the Water: How Greed, Drought, and Rampant Overdevelopment Are Sucking Texas Dry:

"Depending on whom you ask, the price to deliver groundwater is five to 10 times greater than for surface water.  It costs $1 million per mile just to lay the pipes, not counting what you have to pay property owners for the right to raze their homes.  Then there's the cost to treat it for solids and condition it so it doesn't clog your pipes.  When you add in the fuel charges to pump it uphill, you've created a resource pricier than oil and surely in shorter supply.  In the crudest terms, there's a fortune to be made, and a new class of commodity kings are jockeying to get there first."