Shortage Of Water: Could It Become The New Threat To World Peace?

January 18, 2009

Martin McCauley writes: The world is getting thirsty.

Our planet has had a lot of water coming from the skies in recent times. Britain had the wettest August on record last year. France had its share of rainfall too. Floods are now common in India and Bangladesh. And yet the danger is that we could be running out of water.

The country most affected is China. The mighty Yellow River, the cradle of the nation’s civilisation, is polluted almost beyond belief. The north and west of the country, from Inner Mongolia to Xinjiang, are slowly drying up. They are home to over 40 per cent of China’s 1.3 billion people but only provide about 14 per cent of the country’s water.

Beijing’s water table is dropping by three metres a year. Some experts think that in the decades to come millions will have to be relocated from the arid provinces of the north west to other parts of China. China is investing billions in canals that will bring water from the well washed south to the north.

Many great rivers, such as the Mekong, rise in China. But problems with water supplies grow. Beijing has launched an ambitious plan to dam the river to produce hydroelectric power. This cuts the flow downstream and is affecting the livelihood of millions in Myanmar (Burma), Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam. By the time the Mekong reaches the sea it is merely a trickle. Then there are the rivers which rise in Xinjiang and flow into Kazakhstan and Siberia. Again, China is building dams in the headwaters to produce electricity. Water is critical for the Kazakh economy as most of the country is arid desert.

The consequences of siphoning off water for irrigation are clearly visible in Kazakhstan. The Aral Sea is a fraction of its former self. Moscow diverted the water to promote the production of cotton in southern Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan in the 1960s and 1970s. But much of the water was wasted because the concrete channels were porous. Unfortunately Siberian rivers flow to the Arctic and it has always been a Russian dream to divert them southwards. One solution to the drying out of northern China would be to channel the abundant water of Asiatic Russia southwards. Lake Baikal, a stunningly beautiful lake, contains about a fifth of the world’s supply of fresh water. In other words, it could become liquid gold.

The greatest river in the world, the Nile, provides vital water for many countries in eastern Africa. All attempts so far to come to an agreement on its flow and use have proved unsuccessful. It provides just another issue which could lead to conflict in Africa.

Providing water is big business now. The bottled water industry has expanded at a phenomenal rate. This is because people in the West are willing to pay for drinking water.

Water companies are among the most profitable businesses since this utility was privatised. It is also a very wasteful industry with at least a third of drinking water lost to leakages. Desalination is also experiencing rapid growth. The technology was pioneered in the Middle East and is now economical. A British company has devised a small desalination plant which can be deployed rapidly wherever there is drought, be it Cyprus or Oman.

So can the world’s water problems be solved in the near future? Ther answer is ‘no’. The major problem is that in poor countries there is enormous resistance to paying for water. The 800 million in Africa, who live without clean water, regard water as a free gift. They have never paid for it before, so why should they start now?

Western water companies that have ventured into the African market have found it a chastening experience. Making a profit from saving people from dying of thirst does not go down very well. Africa’s problem is that the state and municipalities are incapable of providing a supply of clean drinking water for the population and water for industry. Non-governmental organisations are staffed by Europeans whose instincts are socialist. They do not accept that the solution to the problem can be market-driven. The aid industry shares this view. As this website has argued in the past, Africa does not need aid. It needs proper investment.

Another great source of fresh water are the Great Lakes. No one has yet devised a plan for moving some of this water to the arid South West of the United States. The once mighty Colorado River is now a minnow.

China, North Korea and Pakistan face a water shortage in the next decade. If they fail to negotiate deals to bring in water from abroad, would they resort to using force to achieve their objectives?

One can envisage China moving into Siberia with its enormous surplus water resources. Siberia has a population of about 20 million and it is declining by the day. President Dmitry Medvedev warned that if Russia does not develop Siberia, it will lose it. Besides water, China faces a demographic problem. Siberia could solve both challenges for Beijing.

North Korea is running out of water but there is plenty in South Korea. Beijing cannot help Pyongyang to resolve its water shortage. Will water fuel conflict between the two Koreas?

As water becomes more expensive in the developed world, conservation becomes more important. Populations are not rising rapidly in the developed world but they are exploding in the developing world. Water is crucial for supporting life, but poor people will not or cannot pay for it. What is the solution?

We need a few Einsteins to provide them and then the political will to apply them.

– End –

Bookmark to

Add 'Shortage Of Water: Could It Become The New Threat To World Peace?' to Del.icio.us

Add 'Shortage Of Water: Could It Become The New Threat To World Peace?' to digg

Add 'Shortage Of Water: Could It Become The New Threat To World Peace?' to reddit

Add 'Shortage Of Water: Could It Become The New Threat To World Peace?' to Technorati

Add 'Shortage Of Water: Could It Become The New Threat To World Peace?' to Newsvine

Add 'Shortage Of Water: Could It Become The New Threat To World Peace?' to Stumble Upon

Add 'Shortage Of Water: Could It Become The New Threat To World Peace?' to Google Bookmarks

Water, Water, We Need Water: Is This The New Reality Of The Word?
Martin McCauley writes: The World Water Conference in Istanbul faces a daunting task: how to convince water surplus countries to share their water with...
Is China Running Out Of Water?
Martin McCauley writes: If you are a keen reader of StirringTroubleInternationally you probably picked up our hilarious spoof breaking news item: ‘Breaking News: China...
Is The World Running Out of Water?
By Martin McCauley: Australia is running out of water. The driest inhabited continent is facing the greatest water crisis in its history. And it’s not...
Could Water Become A Source Of Conflict In Central Asia? It Looks Like It
Martin McCauley writes: Conflict is brewing in Central Asia. Despite being Soviet republics until the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 there is no...
The Stand-Off Between North Korea And The World Intensifies. The Options Are Very Limited
Thomas Mathew writes: As the stand-off between North Korea and the rest of the world resumes we, at StirringTroubleInternationally, pose a question: what is it...