Government
Water Pressure Build
Worldwide
Skyrocketing water consumption is leaving many countries high and dry.
By Clifton Coles
ountries around the world are facing growing water deficits as the supply of
freshwater diminishes.
Historically, water shortages were local occurrences, but in an
increasingly integrated world economy, water shortfalls are crossing national boundaries.
And lack of water means lack of food. Seventy percent of world water use, including water
diverted from rivers and pumped from underground, is used for irrigation, according to
Lester R. Brown, president of the Earth Policy Institute.
Future competition for water seems likely to take place largely in world
grain markets, says Brown, because water-scarce countries often satisfy the growing needs
of cities and industry by diverting water from irrigation, then importing grain to make up
for lack of production.
Iran and Egypt, for example, import 40% or more of their total supply of
grain. Morocco imports 50% of its grain, and Algerians, Saudi Arabians, Yemenis, and
Israelis import more than that, as high as 90% in Israel.
Water loss is a growing phenomenon that is devastating and all-but
invisible. Unlike other environmental disasters like deforestation, falling water tables
cannot be readily photographed and are often discovered only when wells go dry. Water
consumption worldwide has tripled over the last half-century. The drilling of millions of
wells has pushed water beyond the recharge of many aquifers. The failure of governments to
limit pumping to the sustainable yield of aquifers means that water tables are now falling
in scores of countries.
In Yemen, for example, the water table under most of the country is
falling roughly 2 meters annually as water use far exceeds aquifers' sustainable yield.
Aquifers around Yemen's capital Sana'a are expected to be dry by the end of the decade. In
the search for water, the Yemeni government has drilled test wells 2 kilometers
deep--depths normally associated with the oil industry--but they have failed to find
water.
The Earth Policy Institute suggests two courses of action for
stabilizing aquifers: Raise water prices and control population growth. The first step,
Brown argues, would eliminate pervasive subsidies that create artificially low prices for
water in many countries. The next step is to raise water prices; this would reduce pumping
to sustainable levels by raising water productivity and reducing water use in all segments
of society.
Most of the billions of people projected to be born by mid-century will
be born in countries already experiencing water shortages. Population growth can be slowed
quickly by investing heavily in female literacy and family planning services, according to
Brown.
Source: Earth Policy Institute, 1350 Connecticut Avenue N.W., Suite 403,
Washington, D.C. 20035. Web site www.earth-policy.org.
Hot Spots for Water Wars
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Recent contentious water hotspots include:
• Bolivia. Bolivians with little access to running
water were charged hefty rates for water delivery in 1999. The government employed an
international consortium to supply water to the city of Cochabamba and raised water
tariffs to cover costs, resulting in protests and revolt.
• China. The Chinese government diverted $48.2 million
from its budget to build emergency water supply projects in drought-plagued northern China
in 2000. Tianjin, north China's second largest city, adopted water rationing and fines for
water usage exceeding a set limit. Elsewhere in northern China, workers have put more than
2 million motor-pumped wells and 33,000 pumping stations into operation.
• Egypt. Egypt is entirely dependent for its water on
the Nile River, which is now reduced to a trickle as it enters the Mediterranean. Neither
Egypt, Ethiopia, nor Sudan can increase its take from the Nile except at the expense of
the other two countries. Populations in these three countries is projected to climb to 264
million in 2025 from 167 million today.
• Iran. The water table is falling by 2.8 meters
annually in the agriculturally rich Chenaran Plain in northeastern Iran. That, coupled
with the cumulative effect of a three-year drought, has driven people out of the region,
generating a swelling flow of water refugees.
• Lebanon. Israel will not allow Lebanon to divert
water from the Wazzani River, a border river shared by both countries. Lebanon says it
needs the water for parched villages in the south.
• Mexico. The government spends tremendous resources
transporting water to Mexico City, which receives 70% of its water from southern states.
On the U.S.-Mexican border, Texas farmers complain that Mexican farmers use wasteful
irrigation techniques. A deal reached in 2001 to resolve water disputes stipulates that
both countries invest in water conservation measures jointly.
Source: Compiled by THE FUTURIST from news sources and the Earth Policy
Institute.
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