Conflicts between Countries, States or Groups over Access to a Safe Water Supply

1404 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Essays on water shortages with their effects and solutions

Water conflict is a term describing a conflict between countries, states, or groups over an access to safe water supply. Water is a limited resource and in the future access might get worse with climate change, although scientists' projections of future rainfall are notoriously cloudy it is now commonly said that future wars in the Middle East are more likely to be fought over water than over oil. According to UNESCO, the current interstate conflicts occur mainly in the Middle East. Disputes stemming from the Euphrates and Tigris Rivers among Turkey, Syria, and Iraq; and the Jordan River conflict among Israel, Lebanon, Jordan and the State of Palestine. Then Africa has water wars stewing with the intensifying Nile River-related conflicts among Egypt, Ethiopia, and Sudan. As well as in Asia, where it is predicted that as many as a billion people may be affected by storages of clean drinking water by year 2050, the Aral Sea conflict among Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan bring worry to the natives (Dunn).
Even the United States National Intelligence Estimate predicts wars over water within ten years. The concern is understandable—humanity needs fresh water to live, but a rise in population coupled with a fall in available water resources would seem to be the perfect ingredients for conflict. Although, water wars in United States are not fought in combat or on the battlefields like in other areas of the world they are fought in courtroom and the only people that usually gain from these conflicts are the lawyers. Droughts, blizzards, floods, and more disturbances in our water cycle from climate change have opened up the door to many conflicts for water in just Unites State itself.
One of the first know...

... middle of paper ...

...ctor Library Voyager Catalog. Web. 30 Apr. 2014.
Gleick, Peter H. The World's Water : The Biennial Report On Freshwater Resources. n.p.: Washington, D.C. : Island Press, c1998-, 1999. Proctor Library Voyager Catalog. Web. 30 Apr. 2014.
Hays, Carl. "Water, Peace, And War: Confronting The Global Water Crisis." Booklist 109.16 (2013): 6. Academic Search Complete. Web. 30 Apr. 2014.
Reardon, Sara, and Hal Hodson. "Water Wars Loom As US Runs Dry." New Scientist 217.2904 (2013): 8-9. Academic Search Complete. Web. 30 Apr. 2014.
Ward, Diane Raines. Water Wars : Drought, Flood, Folly, And The Politics Of Thirst / By Diane Raines Ward. n.p.: New York : Riverhead Books, 2002., 2002. Proctor Library Voyager Catalog. Web. 30 Apr. 2014.
Welzer, Harald, and Patrick Camiller. Climate wars: why people will be killed in the twenty-first century. Cambridge, Eng.: Polity, 2012. Print.

Show More
Related

  • Maude Barlow's Water Incorporated

    841 Words  | 2 Pages

    Maude Barlow’s “Water Incorporated: The Commodification of the World’s Water” gives a voice to a very real but vastly unknown issue: the privatization of water. I refer to it as vastly unknown because it wasn’t until this article that I was even aware such a power struggle existed. Barlow first introduces startling statistics, meant to grab the attention of its reader. Once she has your attention, she introduces the “new generation of trade and investment agreements.” (306) This includes referencing many different acronyms such as, FTAA, NAFTA, GTAA and WWF. FTAA, NAFTA, and GTAA are the villains of this story. Simply put, the privatization of water would end in socioeconomic turmoil and dehydration worldwide.

    Read More

  • Water Problems in Texas

    1966 Words  | 4 Pages

    Texas, with its abundances of natural resources, is facing a new demon, one that doesn’t even seem possible, a shortage of water. Water, without it nothing can survive. Texas is the second largest state for landmass in the nation and ninth for water square miles. Within the borders of Texas are more than 100 lakes, 14 major rivers, and 23 aquifers, so why has water become such an important issue for the state? Politicians and conservationists all agree that without a new working water plan, the state could be facing one of the most damaging environmental disasters they have ever seen. The issues that shape the states positions are population growth, current drought conditions, and who actually owns the water.

    Read More

  • How The Colorado River Basin

    889 Words  | 2 Pages

    The ability to obtain abundant, pure water is a basic requirement for an individual’s well-being. Likewise, access to abundant, safe water is also indispensable for resilient agricultural crops as well as a thriving national economy. These requirements for pure water are so substantial that disputes amongst regional groups, states, as well as nations arise on a frequent basis regarding the rights to various water sources.

    Read More

  • Iks by Lewis Thomas

    851 Words  | 2 Pages

    California water war has been an great example of different cities fighting against each other since they all share the common characteristics of greed, and selfish. Back in the 1800’s, Los Angeles grew largely in populations when finally it outgr...

    Read More

  • Blue Gold: World Water Wars

    1427 Words  | 3 Pages

    In the documentary, Blue Gold: World Water Wars, it follows several people and countries world-wide in their fight for fresh water. The film exposes giant corporations as they bully poorer developing countries to privatize their own supply of fresh water. As a result of the privatization, corporations make a hefty profit while the developing countries remain poor. Blue Gold: World Water Wars also highlights the fact that Wall Street investors are going after the desalination process and mass water export schemes. This documentary also shows how people in more developed nations are treating the water with much disregard, and not taking care of our finite supply. We are polluting, damming, and simply wasting our restricted supply of fresh water at an alarming speed. The movie also recognizes that our quick overdevelopment of housing and agriculture puts a large strain on our water supply and it results in desertification throughout the entire earth. The film shows how people in more industrialized nations typically take water for granted, while others in less industrialized nations have to fight for every drop.

    Read More

  • Water Privatization: Private vs. Public

    963 Words  | 2 Pages

    4. United Nations Development Programme, U.N. Human Development Report 2006, Beyond Scarcity: Power, Poverty, and the Global Water Crisis, web. 6 Dec. 2009 http://hdr.undp.org/en/media/hdr2006_english_summary.pdf

    Read More

  • water rights

    590 Words  | 2 Pages

    Water is essential to life. By being so important it is crucial to keep it maintained and preserved. Our water supply is affected by environmental, economic, and legal issues. In Oklahoma water is very sacred to its people especially to Native Americans. Both Choctaw and Chickasaw nations are suing the state of Oklahoma for the regulatory authority over Sardis Lake and the water resources it holds. The Choctaw and Chickasaw nations deserve the rights over Sardis Lake because it is their main water supply and they own the rights through the treaty of the Dancing Rabbit Creek of 1830.

    Read More

  • Analysis of the Documentary Film "Flow- For the Love of Water"

    950 Words  | 2 Pages

    “How can you buy or sell the sky-the warmth of the land? The idea is strange to us. Yet we do not own the freshness of air or the sparkle of the water. How can you buy them from us? We will decide in our time” (Chief Seattle: 1855). In the Documentary “Flow – for the love of water” it visualizes the global crisis we face on Mother’s Earth as it pertains to the diminishing of fresh water. The Documentary portrays along with the help of experts that this global crises is affecting each and every one of us in today’s society including animals. The film shows us that water is constantly being wasted, polluted, and privatized by big co operations. Prime examples of these greedy companies were mentioned in the film such as Nestle, Thames, Suez, Vivendi, Coca Cola and Pepsi.

    Read More

  • The Water Crisis and Solutions

    1481 Words  | 3 Pages

    Freshwater is quite scarce, but it is even scarcer than one might think: about seventy percent of all freshwater is frozen in the icecaps of Antarctica and Greenland and is unavailable to humans. Most of the remainder is present as soil moisture or lies in deep underground aquifers as groundwater. It is not economically feasible to extract this waster for use as drinking water. This leaves less than one percent of the world’s fresh water that is available to humans. It includes the water found in lakes, reservoirs, groundwater that is shallow enough to be tapped at an affordable cost. These freshwater sources are the only sources that are frequently replenished by rain and snowfall, and therefore are renewable. At the current rates of consumption, however, this supply of fresh water will not last. Pollution and contamination of freshwater sources exacerbate the problem, further reducing the amount of freshwater available for human consumption. Something must be done if humans want to even survive in the near future: the lack of clean drinking water is already the number one cause of disease in the world today. The first step is worldwide awareness of the water crisis: governments and the citizens they govern worldwide need to know about this problem and be actively involved in solving this problem.

    Read More

  • Causes, Effects and Solution of Water Polution

    1069 Words  | 3 Pages

    Hennigan, Robert D. "Water Pollution." Oxford University Press 19.11 (1969): 976-78. Web. 16 Apr. 2014.

    Read More

  • The Big Thirst Analysis

    605 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Big Thirst, written by Charles Fishman was created to explore the case studies around the global scarcity of water. Rather than following the path of many authors who have constructed books regarding water and the smart management of such, Fishman attempts to debunk ideas surrounding myths on the water shortages. By providing more case studies that focus on his idea that while indeed water problems can be alleviated at local, even regional levels, those efforts do not impact the water scarcity on a global level.

    Read More

  • The Problem of Water Scarcity

    1538 Words  | 4 Pages

    Smith, Zachary A., and Grenetta Thomassey. Freshwater Issues: A Reference Handbook. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, 2002. Print

    Read More

  • The Importance of Protecting Our Natural Resource- Water

    2372 Words  | 5 Pages

    Water is the most priceless resource on our planet. Billions of gallons flow through our rivers and lakes. Millions of gallons are consumed by humans each day. Our world’s surface is seventy percent water. With so much water around us, how can 1.1 billion people still lack access to clean water (Cooper, Water Shortages)? People are already using fifty four percent of all the freshwater available on this planet (Cooper, Water Shortages). We cannot afford to neglect something so essential to our very survival. We must defend our most important natural resource—water.

    Read More

  • The Global Water Crisis

    2639 Words  | 6 Pages

    Freshwater in the world makes up only a small portion of water on the planet. While the percentage of water in the world is nearly 70%, only 2.5% is consumable. Even further, only <1% is easily accessible to basic human needs. According to National Geographic, “by 2025, an estimated 1.8 billion people will live in areas plagued by water scarcity, with two-thirds of the world's population living in water-stressed regions as a result of use, growth, and climate change.” With this current trend, water will become more immersed in environmental, economic, political, and social changes. Many of these in later years shall need to be addressed as tension rises:

    Read More

  • Water Shortage in India: Problems and Solutions

    985 Words  | 2 Pages

    Rogers, Peter. 2008. "Facing the Freshwater CRISIS. (Cover story)." Scientific American 299, no. 2: 46-53. Academic Search Premier, EBSCOhost (accessed November 4, 2010).

    Read More

More about Conflicts between Countries, States or Groups over Access to a Safe Water Supply

Open Document