From Water to Conflict : Capstone Essay by Bella Pitman ('21)
The symbol in Chinese for water is also the one for control; rival in Latin comes from the word river. These terms from ancient languages represent the control and power that comes with holding water. Only 3% of the water on Earth is freshwater, which is essential to all life. Icecaps, glaciers & permanent snow hold about 68.7% of that fresh water, groundwater holds 30.1%, Freshwater Lakes only hold 0.26%, and lastly, rivers hold about 0.006% of the freshwater there is on earth. People are not able to access the water held in Glaciers, and the majority of the water that is accessible is in the ground, which is hard to extract; leaving lakes with 0.26% and rivers with 0.006% of the truly attainable freshwater.
Since there is so little water to go around, in proportion to what is used, people are very sensitive when their resource is meddled with. In India, September 2016, the Indian Supreme Court dealt with a case about water allowances pertaining to agriculture from the Cauvery River. The court ruled that “Karnataka would have to release 12,000 cubic feet of water, or almost 90,000 gallons, per second to Tamil Nadu every day until Sept. 20 from the Cauvery River, which originates in Karnataka and flows downstream to Tamil Nadu.” Water is necessary for life, and so people, like the ones in Karnataka, like to always have an abundant amount and not share with others, in fear of putting themselves possibly at risk. In response to the court’s decision, there were riots among the Karnataka citizens because they did not want to share their supply. The protests became so intense that “the authorities in the Karnataka city of Bangalore banned public gatherings and deployed riot police officers as protesters set fire to vehicles and pelted buildings and cars with stones. The police fired on protesters who were setting fire to police vehicles in Bangalore, killing one and injuring two others." This example provides a good prediction as to the response when water is not available, not just hard to access.
The amount of water in reservoirs or certain watersheds is not replenishing itself like it should. That is because the water is not following the simple cycle that was taught to us all in 3rd grade. Science teachers say that water runs down to basins, then evaporates, condenses, and then rains back down again. But then what if the water moves before it evaporates, or is used by plants or animals then moved? How does the water get back to where it belongs? With agricultural and manufacturing trading, water is essentially being moved in the form of goods. To produce 50lbs of wheat, farmers use about 30,240 liters of water; for one banana, 20 liters of water are used and for one car, 350,000 liters are used in the manufacturing process. When the goods are exported from one place to another, the water is lost in the original ecosystem and moves to the other. If the water was used more efficiently or the goods not exported as often, this problem would not be such a big deal.
If people keep on abusing water resources globally, there will be extreme amounts of conflict. The world is already encountering disputes like in Israel, Palestine, India and China, over unfair disbursement. But they will grow more numerous and effective as the amount of accessible water declines. We must find a way to replenish our water sources, limit unnecessary water use and waste, and we must show the people of the world that water is not an endless resource, and it must be treasured and respected.
Mother Earth is a self sufficient planet. If it is left alone, it is able to replenish the depleted water resources. My proposal is to limit water use, so the resources we draw from are not used faster than they are filled. Israel has already successfully decreased their footprint, with government mandated water restrictions and using more efficient appliances. I believe that the U.S. should follow suit so we can stop wasting millions of gallons a day. Given the prediction of conflict over lack of water, how can governments curb the impacts?
Section II : Current & Historical Examples
In today’s world, effects of abusing water are escalating quickly. Industry is booming and to support that, the use of water is through the roof. California, which has been in a deep drought for about four years; has some farmers who are struggling without access to water, and others whom are basking in abundance. Rudy Mussi is a farmer with fields in the Sacramento Delta. He remarks in an interview with NPR that “‘We're a giant bathtub, … We're drawing water from all sources.’”. One thing that Mr. Mussi does not realize, is that by using all this water for farming, he is hurting his future watershed prospects. To grow one orange it takes 13.8 gallons of water, one walnut consumes 4.9 gallons, fifty pounds of wheat uses about 7988 gallons of water, and one apple uses about 26 gallons of water. If these fruits and vegetables are sold to another location, far from the farms, it disrupts the cycle.
Similarly, when water is pumped to fill pools in landlocked cities or a drink of water is poured, that water is from far away, and it’s relocation is harmful to the water cycle in the place the water originated from. One example is Las Vegas, “about ninety percent of [its] water comes from Lake Mead.” Even if the water is staying in the same country, because it is being piped out of the reservoir, the water is not returning to its original place. This makes the water levels in Lake Mead dramatically decrease. Las Vegas keeps taking water, no matter the problems it causes, “taps [will keep] flowing in Las Vegas homes and casinos even if drought-stricken Lake Mead drops to its lowest levels, officials said.” Las Vegas does not give back the water it uses, therefore messing with the cycle. “[T]he Virgin River, Muddy River, and Las Vegas Wash contribute a mere three percent of Lake Mead’s water [per year],” and if more water is removed than replenished, the lake dries out, and that provides another step towards a drought in that area.
Wc water being relocated, abundant use is also detrimental to the state of watersheds (in other words, the water cycle in a certain place). The lack of returning water can harm the people who live off of the runoff. In India, “home to 16 percent of the world’s population, has only 2.5 percent of the world’s land area and 4 percent of the world’s water resources at its disposal …. [and] Most of th[e] freshwater returns to the seas and ocean via the many large rivers flowing across the subcontinent.”. As stated here, water amounts are limited, and are small for the enormous population. Because there is little access in ratio to how many people reside in India, and the booming manufacturing and agriculture businesses, water is treated as a valuable good, which creates tension about allowances.
The farmers of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu both needed more water out the river for their farmland, so a bandit of Tamil origin kidnapped a Kannada actor, Rajkumar in 2000. As ransom, he demanded that large amounts of water be released to Tamil Nadu, in trade for returning the actor. This instance shows that people care so much about the amount of water allocated to their homeland, that they will go as far as kidnapping a grown man to get what they want. In this example only one man was effected, but as the situations become more dire, the responses become more violent.
Along with water access for farming, if people cannot easily get their hands on water for everyday use; the reaction is much worse. A way that water has been difficult to access to the public is through privatization. In Bolivia, during late 1999 and 2000, a company named Bechtel privatized the water system of Cochabamba. The water prices went through the roof and citizens had to pay more for water than food. When the cost became too high, the people were fed up. They began rioting and marching. The Bolivian government sent out the police and army against its own people. More than 100 people suffered from bullet wounds, and numerous people were detained. Twenty snipers wounded people in the riot and killed 17 year old Victor Hugo Daza. He was killed with a shot though his face, and became a face of the protest. In the end the national government struck a deal Bechtel in 2006 to reverse the privatisation. The water went back to the normal prices, but the death of Victor Daza cannot be undone. Privatization is just an example of water being withheld from the people, but we can infer that in the future if there is a mass drought where people cannot access water, the effects will be about the same. It is very realistic in the status quo, and there could be international chaos if escalated to a higher level.
There are many current problems surrounding this issue, and people tend to repeat the mistakes already made in history. The misstep most commonly made is the exploiting of water in farming, which is one big mistake the mayans made.
Water shortages from overuse have been recorded occurring since 800 A.D.. In southeastern Mexico and southern South America, the Mayans were thriving in their civilization, but they were running out of water/good land to farm with. They moved their fields into the forest, so their crops would benefit from the lush soil. The forest died, because the Mayans had to clear trees which helped natural irrigation, and the water hungry crops stole groundwater from the trees. By messing with the forest it hugely messed up their water cycle; soil eroded, air humidity decreased and food production declined. “[B]y the ninth century the Maya had exhausted the environment around them to the point that it could no longer sustain a very large population.” This overuse of their ecosystem is credited to be the cause of their deaths.
Water distribution was so important in ancient societies that there were rules pertaining to irrigation that address negligence of irrigation systems and water theft in the Code of Hammurabi for the State of Sumer. In 1187, Saladin and the Middle East used water as a military tool. Saladin was able to defeat the Crusaders at the Horns of Hattin in 1187 by denying them access to water. “In some reports, Saladin had sanded up all the wells along the way and had destroyed the villages of the Maronite Christians who would have supplied the Christian army with water.”
History shows us that societies' struggles with water overuse are nothing new. People are beginning to see the pattern and this leads them to change their ways. The first step is acknowledging that water is being abused and thinking about what the future repercussions are.
Section IIIa : Contemporary Reactions
Water has been and always will be a paramount, therefore it will always be valuable no matter the time. As written here, throughout all of history water has provided the human race with life, as a crucial part of all organisms. It has provided a home for the most diverse ecosystem on earth, the ocean; kept colonies and nations safe, acting as a barrier; supported travel to other lands; produced breathtaking scenery; generated electricity; and a plethora of other essential means in our lives. Without water nobody and nothing would be here.
In the media, everyone pays more attention to the things that affect them in their lives. Alike that, so many artists and scholars write, reflect and report on what is relevant to them. With the increasing temperature of the Earth, people have taken special notice of climate change, along with the presence of water. Recently, Mad Max Fury Road has been released. The main focus of the movie is on the leader, Immortan Joe. He is in control of the water and rationing it to the people, consequently he is in complete control of the desert civilization. The dystopian aspect of this story is not too far off. If people abuse the resources they have free access to so much that there is none left, they will have to turn to privately owned water sources, giving all the power to those who own them.
A young adult book by Erin Bow called Scorpion Rules is about a dystopian earth where all the states have changed into individual nations. The first born child of all the leaders (and they are required to have a child) is taken by the AI ruler of the world, Talis, as hostage. These children, the ‘children of peace’ are killed if their parent starts a war with another nation, and it creates incentive for them not to engage in warfare. When one country is running low on water, it wants access to another nation’s water source. Of course, with the scarcity of water, the nation does not want to share and so they declare war; even with the burden of killing their very own children. Though we do not have intelligent, world ruler AIs today, the concept of water wars is very real. Whether it is dispersement or zoning, those conflicts already exist today on a smaller scale.
Another example of water overuse and conflict in media is covered in Blue Gold: World Water Wars. This documentary is about the very basis of my project. The film consists of four main sections; The Crisis, The Politics, World Water Wars and The Way Forward. “The Crisis” discusses happenings in ancient history and how important water is to life; it also describes how water is running out, they showes that most fresh water which is only 3% of the water on earth is polluted beyond human use. That means that we cannot drink, bathe or work with this water. The section “The Politics” is about how water is now being treated as a commodity and the systems are becoming privatized, driving up the costs and causing other problems. “World Water Wars” gives examples of past conflicts, and speaks about where future conflicts can be predicted. Lastly, “The Way Forward” provides the writer's’ views on what should be done to protect people from these conflicts and hopefully stop them from occurring to a large magnitude.
Section IIIb : Government Policies
Overall, most educators, scientists and artists of all kind realize that the ability to access water and its treatment are an important topics. It is not obviously being covered by the media at the moment, though it is becoming a more pressing issue and therefore it is being reported more often. Issues pertaining to water are slowly becoming a common sight in the top articles section on websites for newspapers; and people are starting to notice their effect on the water cycle.
As mentioned before, California is a wc source for water related news. Their (almost four year) drought had pushed the state government to enforce restrictions in 2014 on water utilization, and it have really helped the state reduce their water ‘footprint’. “California [had a] mandatory statewide 25 percent reduction in urban water use,” They accomplished this goal by restricting unnecessary water use. People could not water their lawns in abundance, they couldn’t wash their cars with potable water etc. The restrictions ended up giving California the security that it wanted, and this was evident when “The U.S. Drought Monitor last week [February 2017] showed about 50 percent of California being designated at some level of drought intensity. Just three months ago about 75 percent of the state was listed as having some intensity of drought. While nearly 2 percent of the state is still in "extreme" drought — the second worst category — that's down from almost 43 percent three months ago and about 64 percent one year ago.”. The rules provided relief for the people of California, and this policy is considered successful.
The government in California knows that they are not secure for the long run in water sources, so they decided to keep some of the more lenient water restrictions in place. “The state water board voted to keep the emergency rules in place statewide through the spring, which means prohibitions against wasteful water practices”. This provides a steady solution to the decline in the ability of their water resources (aquifers and reservoirs) to replenish themselves.
Other countries such as Kenya do not have advanced water systems, so the main way of receiving clean water is through wells or a metered tap. The lack of access is a water saving plan in itself, but the water is also highly priced for what its consumers can pay. This hurts the citizens, sometimes even putting them in danger. With the high cost of the water, in order to stay hydrated people have to go to the river with cholera warning signs and use that water in their day to day life, which makes them sick. The prices also makes people conceded, they don't share or stop their neighbors fires because they don't want to spend the money. The system that Kenya uses to distribute their water is not supportive of the people, and though it is partially good for the sustainability of the water, it is too dangerous for the people who reside there and live low cost lives.
In India “Various government departments have undertaken construction of water harvesting structures which has not only helped in storing water on surface but also enhanced recharge to groundwater. … . The Ministry of Water Resources, Government of India has taken various initiatives for promoting Artificial Recharge and Rainwater harvesting including preparation of a conceptual Master Plan for Artificial Recharge to Ground Water in India ... Large numbers of demonstrative projects have been successfully executed across India with construction of check dams, underground Bandharas, cement plugs etc. Government of India has also Implemented the Scheme ‘Artificial recharge to groundwater through dugwells’ in seven States for construction of recharge facility on irrigation dug wells owned by the farmers utilizing excess spare water which otherwise would have gone waste.”. This plan, as covered by the Central Ground Water Board of India is effective in saving water, but does not involve the citizens. It is crucial that people learn about water saving methods, and therefore pushing them to improve their usage.
Australia is one of the best countries in terms of water efficiency and conservation. “It turns out that Australians use ... about … 59 gallons per capita a day (GPCD) as compared to 105 GPCD in California. Not only does Australia have less per capita residential use than CA overall, but nearly every major city in Australia used less water per capita than metropolitan areas in the Western U.S.” The way that they use this little water is by supporting “programs to accelerate retrofitting of dual flush toilets, outdoor water use restrictions, and additional motivation to conserve brought about by higher water prices.”. The way that they charge citizens more is by using a tiered system, “Water use is priced per kiloliter (1,000 liters). To encourage more efficient water usage, some states use “tiered pricing” for water use – meaning the more water you use, the higher the rates your water will be charged at.” This promotes responsible usage, and makes the citizens more aware of their actions. “[Toilet flushing, [which is] the latter of which is the home’s biggest water waster”, is one of the target appliances the Australians are changing. They have pamphlets and online websites about how “Old fashioned toilets may use as much as 12 liters per flush, while new dual flush toilet can use as little as 6 liters for a full flush and 3 liter for a half.” and encourage their citizens to switch to more efficient appliances all over their homes.
Section IV : My Policy
A very close partner with the United States is Israel. “A tiny strip of land, smaller than New Hampshire, saddled with absorbing millions of immigrants, Israel has been worrying about water for a very long time.” Today, Israel leads the way in solving problems of water supply. With different policies surrounding farming & irrigation, recycling water waste, desalination, pricing (in tiers like Australia), leakage, and education. By covering all their bases, I believe that Israel has the best water policy of all, and the United States should follow suit.
In the agricultural sector, the Israelis have dramatically reduced the amount they use to grow produce. They do this in two ways; they have veered away from flood irrigation, which is the method that most farmers in the U.S. use, and have transitioned into drip irrigation. This conditions plants to save their water and also dramatically reduces the amount used to grow crops. The other way they have reduced the amount they spend to grow crops, is developing drought-resistant seeds, and they have been doing so since 1939. Now Israel competes “in world markets, with a specialty in water-efficient crops, including the short-stalked wheat and closely-bunched tomatoes.” By eliminating the excess leaves on tomatoes and the long stalks on wheat, the plants do not need to use as much energy to grow, therefore consuming less water, and when there are millions of these crops being grown, the volume of water being used is much less.
Alike Australia, Israel prices their water in tiers. In the late 2000s Israel induced a national experiment in the centralization of water management. “The next year, private consumers suddenly saw a 40 percent increase in their water bills. People grumbled. But household water use went down immediately by over 15 percent. Farmers, too, immediately adopted more water-efficient methods.” This plan worked very well, because when people have access to an almost free commodity, they do not watch how much they use. When the price went up, in order to keep their bills down, people found ways to use less, helping their nation with the conservation of water.
Even if people are very sparse with their use, if there are leaks and cracks in the water pipes, their efforts will have less of an effect. That is why Israel has also developed an intelligent program to limit their accidental losses. “Every day, sensors in the pipelines, powered by little hydroelectric pinwheels, record the sounds of rushing water in 10-second increments. Then they transmit them, via the cellular network, to a central computer that analyzes the sounds and crunches the data—because it turns out flowing water in a pipe sounds different when there’s a leak.” This program allows the Israeli government to find leaks and fix them quickly, before any major damage ensues. Alongside listening for the leaks, they also have GPS-guided robots crawling through sewers looking for them too.
The Israeli system in reducing water losses has been so successful that they have brought “Jerusalem’s overall water losses down to around 11 percent, with more developed neighborhoods as low as 6 percent. By comparison, most European countries are around 20-40 percent. ... Less developed countries suffer from a much higher rate of loss—in Cairo it’s around 60 percent.” If all of the world had this program and infrastructure, it would save trillions of gallons a day, especially in places like Cairo.
On top of stopping losses in the system, Israel has successfully figured out ways to keep their water from leaving the system. “85 percent of highly purified sewage gets reused for agriculture. Another 10 percent is used to increase river flow and fight forest fires. Only five percent is released into the sea. The country with the second-highest use of recycled water is Spain. They recycle about 25 percent.” By not letting their waste water go back into the water cycle, they aren’t only stopping chemicals from harming ecosystems, the Israelis are also decreasing the amount they draw daily from their reservoirs, not having to wait for the water cycle to bring it back, therefore not depleting them.
On the topic of not depleting water sources, because Israel is a very dry area, and not surrounded by many freshwater resources, the government has turned to the Mediterranean Sea. They have built “the world’s largest modern seawater desalination plant, providing 20 percent of the water consumed by the country’s households.” It cost about $500 million, to build and “it uses a conventional desalination technology called reverse osmosis (RO). Thanks to a series of engineering and materials advances, however, it produces clean water from the sea cheaply and at a scale never before achieved.”. The sea is a plentiful resource, unlike freshwater; and so by changing their water intake from small, limited fresh resources to the vast Mediterranean sea, it solves many problems for the small nation, which deals with the burden of providing enough water for seven million people every day.
The last base that Israel has covered is very unique to their country, water education. “Water conservation has been a part of elementary-school education in Israel for generations. In the 1980s, Israel became the first country on earth to mandate dual-flushing toilets...” By educating the younger generation, Israel has put forth a new age of people that watch what they use, no matter the government restrictions. They learn the phrase, “‘haval al kol tipa’. [and] Loosely translated, it means, ‘Every drop counts.’”. This is the mentality that every living person on earth should have, and it would make an enormous difference in the long run.
The projects/plans that Israel has created would help the United States decrease their rate of water consumption. “3.9 trillion gallons of water are consumed in the United States per month. (AWWA Journal, June 2006) and the average American uses 176 gallons of water per day compared to 5 gallons of water the average African family uses each day.”. The gap in amounts is too large, and unnecessarily wasteful on the American side. By carrying out these plans, the U.S. as a whole will save trillions of gallons of water a day and make themselves a more sustainable country.
Conclusion
Water is limited, and as humans we are exploiting it. By moving it around from its original spot and using water in industry and for everyday use, especially in unsustainable amounts, it is damaging our water supply and system. If water is not easily accessible to the public, international chaos is very foreseeable. By completing small actions over the years within individual communities, the world will make a big difference as a whole, and possibly save life on earth and humankind from destroying itself.
Since there is so little water to go around, in proportion to what is used, people are very sensitive when their resource is meddled with. In India, September 2016, the Indian Supreme Court dealt with a case about water allowances pertaining to agriculture from the Cauvery River. The court ruled that “Karnataka would have to release 12,000 cubic feet of water, or almost 90,000 gallons, per second to Tamil Nadu every day until Sept. 20 from the Cauvery River, which originates in Karnataka and flows downstream to Tamil Nadu.” Water is necessary for life, and so people, like the ones in Karnataka, like to always have an abundant amount and not share with others, in fear of putting themselves possibly at risk. In response to the court’s decision, there were riots among the Karnataka citizens because they did not want to share their supply. The protests became so intense that “the authorities in the Karnataka city of Bangalore banned public gatherings and deployed riot police officers as protesters set fire to vehicles and pelted buildings and cars with stones. The police fired on protesters who were setting fire to police vehicles in Bangalore, killing one and injuring two others." This example provides a good prediction as to the response when water is not available, not just hard to access.
The amount of water in reservoirs or certain watersheds is not replenishing itself like it should. That is because the water is not following the simple cycle that was taught to us all in 3rd grade. Science teachers say that water runs down to basins, then evaporates, condenses, and then rains back down again. But then what if the water moves before it evaporates, or is used by plants or animals then moved? How does the water get back to where it belongs? With agricultural and manufacturing trading, water is essentially being moved in the form of goods. To produce 50lbs of wheat, farmers use about 30,240 liters of water; for one banana, 20 liters of water are used and for one car, 350,000 liters are used in the manufacturing process. When the goods are exported from one place to another, the water is lost in the original ecosystem and moves to the other. If the water was used more efficiently or the goods not exported as often, this problem would not be such a big deal.
If people keep on abusing water resources globally, there will be extreme amounts of conflict. The world is already encountering disputes like in Israel, Palestine, India and China, over unfair disbursement. But they will grow more numerous and effective as the amount of accessible water declines. We must find a way to replenish our water sources, limit unnecessary water use and waste, and we must show the people of the world that water is not an endless resource, and it must be treasured and respected.
Mother Earth is a self sufficient planet. If it is left alone, it is able to replenish the depleted water resources. My proposal is to limit water use, so the resources we draw from are not used faster than they are filled. Israel has already successfully decreased their footprint, with government mandated water restrictions and using more efficient appliances. I believe that the U.S. should follow suit so we can stop wasting millions of gallons a day. Given the prediction of conflict over lack of water, how can governments curb the impacts?
Section II : Current & Historical Examples
In today’s world, effects of abusing water are escalating quickly. Industry is booming and to support that, the use of water is through the roof. California, which has been in a deep drought for about four years; has some farmers who are struggling without access to water, and others whom are basking in abundance. Rudy Mussi is a farmer with fields in the Sacramento Delta. He remarks in an interview with NPR that “‘We're a giant bathtub, … We're drawing water from all sources.’”. One thing that Mr. Mussi does not realize, is that by using all this water for farming, he is hurting his future watershed prospects. To grow one orange it takes 13.8 gallons of water, one walnut consumes 4.9 gallons, fifty pounds of wheat uses about 7988 gallons of water, and one apple uses about 26 gallons of water. If these fruits and vegetables are sold to another location, far from the farms, it disrupts the cycle.
Similarly, when water is pumped to fill pools in landlocked cities or a drink of water is poured, that water is from far away, and it’s relocation is harmful to the water cycle in the place the water originated from. One example is Las Vegas, “about ninety percent of [its] water comes from Lake Mead.” Even if the water is staying in the same country, because it is being piped out of the reservoir, the water is not returning to its original place. This makes the water levels in Lake Mead dramatically decrease. Las Vegas keeps taking water, no matter the problems it causes, “taps [will keep] flowing in Las Vegas homes and casinos even if drought-stricken Lake Mead drops to its lowest levels, officials said.” Las Vegas does not give back the water it uses, therefore messing with the cycle. “[T]he Virgin River, Muddy River, and Las Vegas Wash contribute a mere three percent of Lake Mead’s water [per year],” and if more water is removed than replenished, the lake dries out, and that provides another step towards a drought in that area.
Wc water being relocated, abundant use is also detrimental to the state of watersheds (in other words, the water cycle in a certain place). The lack of returning water can harm the people who live off of the runoff. In India, “home to 16 percent of the world’s population, has only 2.5 percent of the world’s land area and 4 percent of the world’s water resources at its disposal …. [and] Most of th[e] freshwater returns to the seas and ocean via the many large rivers flowing across the subcontinent.”. As stated here, water amounts are limited, and are small for the enormous population. Because there is little access in ratio to how many people reside in India, and the booming manufacturing and agriculture businesses, water is treated as a valuable good, which creates tension about allowances.
The farmers of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu both needed more water out the river for their farmland, so a bandit of Tamil origin kidnapped a Kannada actor, Rajkumar in 2000. As ransom, he demanded that large amounts of water be released to Tamil Nadu, in trade for returning the actor. This instance shows that people care so much about the amount of water allocated to their homeland, that they will go as far as kidnapping a grown man to get what they want. In this example only one man was effected, but as the situations become more dire, the responses become more violent.
Along with water access for farming, if people cannot easily get their hands on water for everyday use; the reaction is much worse. A way that water has been difficult to access to the public is through privatization. In Bolivia, during late 1999 and 2000, a company named Bechtel privatized the water system of Cochabamba. The water prices went through the roof and citizens had to pay more for water than food. When the cost became too high, the people were fed up. They began rioting and marching. The Bolivian government sent out the police and army against its own people. More than 100 people suffered from bullet wounds, and numerous people were detained. Twenty snipers wounded people in the riot and killed 17 year old Victor Hugo Daza. He was killed with a shot though his face, and became a face of the protest. In the end the national government struck a deal Bechtel in 2006 to reverse the privatisation. The water went back to the normal prices, but the death of Victor Daza cannot be undone. Privatization is just an example of water being withheld from the people, but we can infer that in the future if there is a mass drought where people cannot access water, the effects will be about the same. It is very realistic in the status quo, and there could be international chaos if escalated to a higher level.
There are many current problems surrounding this issue, and people tend to repeat the mistakes already made in history. The misstep most commonly made is the exploiting of water in farming, which is one big mistake the mayans made.
Water shortages from overuse have been recorded occurring since 800 A.D.. In southeastern Mexico and southern South America, the Mayans were thriving in their civilization, but they were running out of water/good land to farm with. They moved their fields into the forest, so their crops would benefit from the lush soil. The forest died, because the Mayans had to clear trees which helped natural irrigation, and the water hungry crops stole groundwater from the trees. By messing with the forest it hugely messed up their water cycle; soil eroded, air humidity decreased and food production declined. “[B]y the ninth century the Maya had exhausted the environment around them to the point that it could no longer sustain a very large population.” This overuse of their ecosystem is credited to be the cause of their deaths.
Water distribution was so important in ancient societies that there were rules pertaining to irrigation that address negligence of irrigation systems and water theft in the Code of Hammurabi for the State of Sumer. In 1187, Saladin and the Middle East used water as a military tool. Saladin was able to defeat the Crusaders at the Horns of Hattin in 1187 by denying them access to water. “In some reports, Saladin had sanded up all the wells along the way and had destroyed the villages of the Maronite Christians who would have supplied the Christian army with water.”
History shows us that societies' struggles with water overuse are nothing new. People are beginning to see the pattern and this leads them to change their ways. The first step is acknowledging that water is being abused and thinking about what the future repercussions are.
Section IIIa : Contemporary Reactions
Water has been and always will be a paramount, therefore it will always be valuable no matter the time. As written here, throughout all of history water has provided the human race with life, as a crucial part of all organisms. It has provided a home for the most diverse ecosystem on earth, the ocean; kept colonies and nations safe, acting as a barrier; supported travel to other lands; produced breathtaking scenery; generated electricity; and a plethora of other essential means in our lives. Without water nobody and nothing would be here.
In the media, everyone pays more attention to the things that affect them in their lives. Alike that, so many artists and scholars write, reflect and report on what is relevant to them. With the increasing temperature of the Earth, people have taken special notice of climate change, along with the presence of water. Recently, Mad Max Fury Road has been released. The main focus of the movie is on the leader, Immortan Joe. He is in control of the water and rationing it to the people, consequently he is in complete control of the desert civilization. The dystopian aspect of this story is not too far off. If people abuse the resources they have free access to so much that there is none left, they will have to turn to privately owned water sources, giving all the power to those who own them.
A young adult book by Erin Bow called Scorpion Rules is about a dystopian earth where all the states have changed into individual nations. The first born child of all the leaders (and they are required to have a child) is taken by the AI ruler of the world, Talis, as hostage. These children, the ‘children of peace’ are killed if their parent starts a war with another nation, and it creates incentive for them not to engage in warfare. When one country is running low on water, it wants access to another nation’s water source. Of course, with the scarcity of water, the nation does not want to share and so they declare war; even with the burden of killing their very own children. Though we do not have intelligent, world ruler AIs today, the concept of water wars is very real. Whether it is dispersement or zoning, those conflicts already exist today on a smaller scale.
Another example of water overuse and conflict in media is covered in Blue Gold: World Water Wars. This documentary is about the very basis of my project. The film consists of four main sections; The Crisis, The Politics, World Water Wars and The Way Forward. “The Crisis” discusses happenings in ancient history and how important water is to life; it also describes how water is running out, they showes that most fresh water which is only 3% of the water on earth is polluted beyond human use. That means that we cannot drink, bathe or work with this water. The section “The Politics” is about how water is now being treated as a commodity and the systems are becoming privatized, driving up the costs and causing other problems. “World Water Wars” gives examples of past conflicts, and speaks about where future conflicts can be predicted. Lastly, “The Way Forward” provides the writer's’ views on what should be done to protect people from these conflicts and hopefully stop them from occurring to a large magnitude.
Section IIIb : Government Policies
Overall, most educators, scientists and artists of all kind realize that the ability to access water and its treatment are an important topics. It is not obviously being covered by the media at the moment, though it is becoming a more pressing issue and therefore it is being reported more often. Issues pertaining to water are slowly becoming a common sight in the top articles section on websites for newspapers; and people are starting to notice their effect on the water cycle.
As mentioned before, California is a wc source for water related news. Their (almost four year) drought had pushed the state government to enforce restrictions in 2014 on water utilization, and it have really helped the state reduce their water ‘footprint’. “California [had a] mandatory statewide 25 percent reduction in urban water use,” They accomplished this goal by restricting unnecessary water use. People could not water their lawns in abundance, they couldn’t wash their cars with potable water etc. The restrictions ended up giving California the security that it wanted, and this was evident when “The U.S. Drought Monitor last week [February 2017] showed about 50 percent of California being designated at some level of drought intensity. Just three months ago about 75 percent of the state was listed as having some intensity of drought. While nearly 2 percent of the state is still in "extreme" drought — the second worst category — that's down from almost 43 percent three months ago and about 64 percent one year ago.”. The rules provided relief for the people of California, and this policy is considered successful.
The government in California knows that they are not secure for the long run in water sources, so they decided to keep some of the more lenient water restrictions in place. “The state water board voted to keep the emergency rules in place statewide through the spring, which means prohibitions against wasteful water practices”. This provides a steady solution to the decline in the ability of their water resources (aquifers and reservoirs) to replenish themselves.
Other countries such as Kenya do not have advanced water systems, so the main way of receiving clean water is through wells or a metered tap. The lack of access is a water saving plan in itself, but the water is also highly priced for what its consumers can pay. This hurts the citizens, sometimes even putting them in danger. With the high cost of the water, in order to stay hydrated people have to go to the river with cholera warning signs and use that water in their day to day life, which makes them sick. The prices also makes people conceded, they don't share or stop their neighbors fires because they don't want to spend the money. The system that Kenya uses to distribute their water is not supportive of the people, and though it is partially good for the sustainability of the water, it is too dangerous for the people who reside there and live low cost lives.
In India “Various government departments have undertaken construction of water harvesting structures which has not only helped in storing water on surface but also enhanced recharge to groundwater. … . The Ministry of Water Resources, Government of India has taken various initiatives for promoting Artificial Recharge and Rainwater harvesting including preparation of a conceptual Master Plan for Artificial Recharge to Ground Water in India ... Large numbers of demonstrative projects have been successfully executed across India with construction of check dams, underground Bandharas, cement plugs etc. Government of India has also Implemented the Scheme ‘Artificial recharge to groundwater through dugwells’ in seven States for construction of recharge facility on irrigation dug wells owned by the farmers utilizing excess spare water which otherwise would have gone waste.”. This plan, as covered by the Central Ground Water Board of India is effective in saving water, but does not involve the citizens. It is crucial that people learn about water saving methods, and therefore pushing them to improve their usage.
Australia is one of the best countries in terms of water efficiency and conservation. “It turns out that Australians use ... about … 59 gallons per capita a day (GPCD) as compared to 105 GPCD in California. Not only does Australia have less per capita residential use than CA overall, but nearly every major city in Australia used less water per capita than metropolitan areas in the Western U.S.” The way that they use this little water is by supporting “programs to accelerate retrofitting of dual flush toilets, outdoor water use restrictions, and additional motivation to conserve brought about by higher water prices.”. The way that they charge citizens more is by using a tiered system, “Water use is priced per kiloliter (1,000 liters). To encourage more efficient water usage, some states use “tiered pricing” for water use – meaning the more water you use, the higher the rates your water will be charged at.” This promotes responsible usage, and makes the citizens more aware of their actions. “[Toilet flushing, [which is] the latter of which is the home’s biggest water waster”, is one of the target appliances the Australians are changing. They have pamphlets and online websites about how “Old fashioned toilets may use as much as 12 liters per flush, while new dual flush toilet can use as little as 6 liters for a full flush and 3 liter for a half.” and encourage their citizens to switch to more efficient appliances all over their homes.
Section IV : My Policy
A very close partner with the United States is Israel. “A tiny strip of land, smaller than New Hampshire, saddled with absorbing millions of immigrants, Israel has been worrying about water for a very long time.” Today, Israel leads the way in solving problems of water supply. With different policies surrounding farming & irrigation, recycling water waste, desalination, pricing (in tiers like Australia), leakage, and education. By covering all their bases, I believe that Israel has the best water policy of all, and the United States should follow suit.
In the agricultural sector, the Israelis have dramatically reduced the amount they use to grow produce. They do this in two ways; they have veered away from flood irrigation, which is the method that most farmers in the U.S. use, and have transitioned into drip irrigation. This conditions plants to save their water and also dramatically reduces the amount used to grow crops. The other way they have reduced the amount they spend to grow crops, is developing drought-resistant seeds, and they have been doing so since 1939. Now Israel competes “in world markets, with a specialty in water-efficient crops, including the short-stalked wheat and closely-bunched tomatoes.” By eliminating the excess leaves on tomatoes and the long stalks on wheat, the plants do not need to use as much energy to grow, therefore consuming less water, and when there are millions of these crops being grown, the volume of water being used is much less.
Alike Australia, Israel prices their water in tiers. In the late 2000s Israel induced a national experiment in the centralization of water management. “The next year, private consumers suddenly saw a 40 percent increase in their water bills. People grumbled. But household water use went down immediately by over 15 percent. Farmers, too, immediately adopted more water-efficient methods.” This plan worked very well, because when people have access to an almost free commodity, they do not watch how much they use. When the price went up, in order to keep their bills down, people found ways to use less, helping their nation with the conservation of water.
Even if people are very sparse with their use, if there are leaks and cracks in the water pipes, their efforts will have less of an effect. That is why Israel has also developed an intelligent program to limit their accidental losses. “Every day, sensors in the pipelines, powered by little hydroelectric pinwheels, record the sounds of rushing water in 10-second increments. Then they transmit them, via the cellular network, to a central computer that analyzes the sounds and crunches the data—because it turns out flowing water in a pipe sounds different when there’s a leak.” This program allows the Israeli government to find leaks and fix them quickly, before any major damage ensues. Alongside listening for the leaks, they also have GPS-guided robots crawling through sewers looking for them too.
The Israeli system in reducing water losses has been so successful that they have brought “Jerusalem’s overall water losses down to around 11 percent, with more developed neighborhoods as low as 6 percent. By comparison, most European countries are around 20-40 percent. ... Less developed countries suffer from a much higher rate of loss—in Cairo it’s around 60 percent.” If all of the world had this program and infrastructure, it would save trillions of gallons a day, especially in places like Cairo.
On top of stopping losses in the system, Israel has successfully figured out ways to keep their water from leaving the system. “85 percent of highly purified sewage gets reused for agriculture. Another 10 percent is used to increase river flow and fight forest fires. Only five percent is released into the sea. The country with the second-highest use of recycled water is Spain. They recycle about 25 percent.” By not letting their waste water go back into the water cycle, they aren’t only stopping chemicals from harming ecosystems, the Israelis are also decreasing the amount they draw daily from their reservoirs, not having to wait for the water cycle to bring it back, therefore not depleting them.
On the topic of not depleting water sources, because Israel is a very dry area, and not surrounded by many freshwater resources, the government has turned to the Mediterranean Sea. They have built “the world’s largest modern seawater desalination plant, providing 20 percent of the water consumed by the country’s households.” It cost about $500 million, to build and “it uses a conventional desalination technology called reverse osmosis (RO). Thanks to a series of engineering and materials advances, however, it produces clean water from the sea cheaply and at a scale never before achieved.”. The sea is a plentiful resource, unlike freshwater; and so by changing their water intake from small, limited fresh resources to the vast Mediterranean sea, it solves many problems for the small nation, which deals with the burden of providing enough water for seven million people every day.
The last base that Israel has covered is very unique to their country, water education. “Water conservation has been a part of elementary-school education in Israel for generations. In the 1980s, Israel became the first country on earth to mandate dual-flushing toilets...” By educating the younger generation, Israel has put forth a new age of people that watch what they use, no matter the government restrictions. They learn the phrase, “‘haval al kol tipa’. [and] Loosely translated, it means, ‘Every drop counts.’”. This is the mentality that every living person on earth should have, and it would make an enormous difference in the long run.
The projects/plans that Israel has created would help the United States decrease their rate of water consumption. “3.9 trillion gallons of water are consumed in the United States per month. (AWWA Journal, June 2006) and the average American uses 176 gallons of water per day compared to 5 gallons of water the average African family uses each day.”. The gap in amounts is too large, and unnecessarily wasteful on the American side. By carrying out these plans, the U.S. as a whole will save trillions of gallons of water a day and make themselves a more sustainable country.
Conclusion
Water is limited, and as humans we are exploiting it. By moving it around from its original spot and using water in industry and for everyday use, especially in unsustainable amounts, it is damaging our water supply and system. If water is not easily accessible to the public, international chaos is very foreseeable. By completing small actions over the years within individual communities, the world will make a big difference as a whole, and possibly save life on earth and humankind from destroying itself.
