Tom Levitt, MSN Environment

Water Wars: How the world is facing a critical shortage

A child cries at a public water hose in Iraq where shortages were widespread during and after the war (Image ©ALLA AL-MARJANI/AP/PA Photos)

It is a precious commodity that we cannot live without. Dwindling oil supplies could change our way of life but as populations grow, water shortages threaten our very existence.

Already more than one third of the world goes short.

The basic problem is that the amount of fresh water across the planet is fixed but our demands upon it are growing ever greater. By 2050 half the world’s population is expected to live in countries chronically short of water. Europe, North Africa and Asia are the most at risk.

Agriculture

Surprisingly to some, it is not our own household use of water or even industrial usage that is the biggest drain on our supplies. More than two-thirds of all the water withdrawn worldwide is used to water crops and feed animals.

A shepherd takes his herd of goats across the dry bed of the Himayatsagar reservoir, the second major reservoir in Hyderabad, the capital of southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh (PA Photos)

It takes more than 1,900 litres of water to grow just one kilogram of rice. But meat production is worse with 15,000 litres of water used up to produce one kilogram of beef and 3,500 litres to produce a similar amount of poultry meat.

Graphic: Our bottled water addiction

Already water shortages are causing significant drops in production in some areas of the world such as Australia, North Africa and Southern Europe. These countries now have to rely more on irrigation to maintain agriculture.

However this can have its own problems. For example, the River Nile never reaches the sea. Why? Because its waters are used so extensively to irrigate Egypt’s crops that at times the flow into the Mediterranean is reduced to a trickle.

Cities

While food production is the main drain on supplies it is in the cities where the day-to-day crisis is played out.

"In the urban slums they only have a couple of hours a day when anything comes to their water pump." Henry Northover, head of policy at WaterAid.

Rapidly developing megacities, particularly in Africa, do not have the infrastructure to cope with the demand for water.

Families washing clothes in a stream in Africa (WHO)

As well as limited and unreliable access, sanitation in these cities is also poor. In Africa and Asia, 60% of city dwellers live without adequate sanitation. Only a small percentage of the wastewater collected through sewage systems in developing countries is treated and disposed of properly.

The consequence of this is horrific levels of disease brought about by contaminated drinking water and the spread of infection.

Dirty water is estimated to cause 1.7 million deaths each year – 90% of them children. The biggest killers being cholera, typhoid and polio.

Campaigners argue the consequences of water shortages are often underestimated because the deaths are only indirectly related to water.

Water wars

As water shortages and access to clean water become more critical so the potential for conflicts is becoming greater.

"If the wars of the 20th century were fought over oil, the wars of this century will be fought over water." The World Bank

It is often women and children who are responsible for collecting water everyday

International cooperation on water is generally good. In many cases it has to be with 13 river basins around the world shared by five or more countries, according to the UN. But that might change.

“Just because there have not been outbreaks of war does not mean that we will not see any in the future,” said Northover.

The Pacific Institute has been tracking water conflicts for over 20 years. Over a two-year period from 2006-7 it documented nine flashpoints.

These included; 12 deaths in Ethiopia after clashes between farmers over competition for water; Tamil Tiger rebels cut the water supply to government-held villages in north-eastern Sri Lanka; Hezbollah rockets damaged a wastewater treatment plant in Israel, the Lebanese government claim their facilities along the Litani River have been damaged in Israeli attacks.

The Future

As both the world and urban populations continue to rise, the need for more efficient use of water, particularly in agriculture, becomes ever pressing.

However, even with such improvements, some areas of the world could still become unsustainable for human living. It is the mass migration as a consequence of this that campaigners worry could fuel future conflicts.

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