Satisfying a Thirsty World

           In the Preface of Michael Klare’s book Blood and Oil: The Dangers and Consequences of America’s Growing Dependency on Imported Petroleum, Klare disagrees with Samuel Huntington’s A Clash of Civilizations. Huntington’s well known idea was that most of the conflicts that have occurred in recent times are because of religious and ethnic differences that prevent nations or different groups of people from seeing eye to eye (Klare, 2005). While there is a degree of truth in this, Klare argues that not all conflicts can be accounted for by examining differences in culture. He believes that the evidence provided throughout his book confirms his theory that resources are at the center of most conflicts. While Klare’s book mainly focuses on oil, there are plenty of other resources that civilizations are going to war for. One of the biggest resource conflicts besides those revolving around oil are those involving water. This is confirmed by news articles from the last few months including U.S. Intelligence Report Warns of Global Water Tensions, by Steven Myers, Are Water Wars Coming?, by Chris Arsenault, and Struggle for Water in Colorado with Rise in Fracking, by Jack Healy.

            There is no question that having access to water is a requirement for life. It may seem like there is a lot of water on the surface of the earth, but not all of that water is drinkable or useable. Arsenault says that according to the United Nations, “Internationally, 780 million people lack access to safe drinking water” (2012). This is mainly due to the fact that the world only holds three percent of fresh water of which only one percent is easy to gain access to (Arsenault, 2012). The rest of the water on earth is salt water. Issues around water also inevitably include “population growth, increasing food Prices, and global warming” (Arsenault, 2012). Arsenault also mentions cultural differences as an overall contributor to water conflicts. Water could feasibly be connected to a number of issues that have not been mentioned here because water is a staple for life. If the overall problem is not dealt with than every aspect of daily life could be afflicted.

            The State Department’s classified National Intelligence Estimate has led the intelligence community in the U.S. to acknowledge that water problems will likely surface in the next ten years in the Middle East, South Asia, and North Africa (Myers, 2012). This acknowledgement is reinforced by United Nation studies that indicate that by 2025, thirty nations will lack adequate access to water (Arsenault, 2012). This is not just a problem the world faces in the future. According to Myers, there are already problems along the Tigris and Euphrates where the headwaters have been harnessed (2012). Yemen and places along the Nile River are expected to be the future location of water conflicts (Arsenault, 2012). Arsenault says that, according to Maude Barlow, South Africa, India, Mexico, Botswana, Bolivia and parts of the United States have already had water protests and it will only get worse (2012).

Fresh water access has also been a problem in the United States of America, especially in the west. Seventy percent of the worlds water is used for agricultural purposes (Myers, 2012). This has been a major problem for American farmers in recent weeks do to Fracking in the western United States. Oil and gas extraction wells can require over five million gallons of water a piece and the water is being taken from anywhere energy companies can get access (Healy, 2012). With more bids on water sources, prices are going up in relation to the level of scarcity. This may increase food production costs and drive up prices for consumers assuming that there is enough for both farms and energy companies to continue using water at this rate. While many farmers do not believe they can compete with big energy companies, critics are saying that it is not as easy for the energy companies to get water as the farmers say it is (Healy, 2012). Whether this is true or not, this level of water use would be hard to continue unnoticed.

            The water wars that the world is primed for just so happen to be in many of the regions Klare mentions in his book as being of special interest to the United States for feeding its dependency on oil. The instability of foreign regimes that has led to so much U.S. involvement may now be added to by yet another threat. Any conflicts over water will destabilize oil producing regions and directly affect the American economy. Since stability has appeared to require American policing efforts, it would seem that in order to protect the flow of oil, the U.S. will have to find a way to solve the world’s water problems. If the United States is committed to keeping these regions stable indefinitely until they are drained dry of petroleum, they have an immense amount of work cut out for them. A future energy crisis could possibly result from a future water crisis.

References

Arsenault, C. (2012, August 28). Are the Water Wars Coming? AlterNet. Retrieved from http://www.alternet.org/water/are-water-wars-coming?akid=9309.29753.Jrsinm&rd=1&src=newsletter702769&t=26&paging=off

Healy, J. (2012, September 5). Struggle for Water in Colorado With Rise in Fracking. The New York Times. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/06/us/struggle-for-water-in-colorado-with-rise-in-fracking.html

Klare, M. T. (2005). Blood and Oil: The Dangers and Consequences of America’s Growing Dependency on Imported Petroleum. Holt Paperbacks.

Myers, S. L. (2012, March 22). U.S. Intelligence Report Predicts Tensions on Water. The New York Times. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/23/world/us-intelligence-report-warns-of-global-water-tensions.html