Is This The Beginning Of Water Wars?

New Scientist ^ | 4-11-2008 | NewScientist.com news service

[blam]

Is this the beginning of water wars?

18:00 11 April 2008
NewScientist.com news service
Catherine Brahic

As Barcelona runs out of water, Spain has been forced to consider importing water from France by boat. It is the latest example of the growing struggle for water around the world – the "water wars".

Barcelona and the surrounding region are suffering the worst drought in decades. There are several possible solutions, including diverting a river, and desalinating water. But the city looks like it will ship water from the French port of Marseilles.

The water services authority in Marseille say that no contracts have been signed, and would not say how much the water would cost, although it is unlikely to cost any more than it costs the inhabitants of Marseilles. And the amounts of water than have been discussed are small – 25,000 cubic metres, less than what's needed to grow an acre of wheat, and not enough to keep 30 Spaniards going for a year, based on their average consumption.

But the proposal is interesting because it turns a local drought into an international situation.

Water conflict

Climatologists predict that certain regions, the Mediterranean basin among them, will increasingly suffer from water shortages as global temperatures are pushed up by greenhouse gas emissions.

Combined with reports that water scarcity can escalate conflicts, the forecasts have raised fears that climate change could bring about water wars.

"People will not fight over water," says Mark Zeitoun, from the London School of Economics' Centre for Environmental Policy and Governance in the UK. "But that's not to say water shortages will not contributing to existing tensions."

This is already happening. Zeitoun advises the Palestinian authorities in their water negotiations with Israel. The latter controls 90% of the two territories'

[BwanaNdege]

"25,000 cubic meters, less than what's needed to grow an acre of wheat, and not enough to keep 30 Spaniards going for a year"

It looks like, once again, New Scientist needs an editor that is cognizant of a few rules of thumb.

20 inches of annual rainfall will grow 50 to 100 bushels of wheat per acre. 20 inches of rainfall on one acre is 2056 cubic meters. So 25,000 cubic meters will grow a bumper wheat crop on more than 12 acres, not one.

Additionally, my county health department calculates 150 gallons per person per day, making 54,750 gallons the annual per capita consumption.

25,000 cubic meters equals 6,604,303 gallons, enough to provide for 121 people, not 30.

[agere_contra]

in fact it's cooler now than it was in the 16th century by about 5 degrees.

AGW is bunk, but the 16th century was actually damn cold. It was the Maunder minimum and the Thames froze over.

The important thing to remember is that we are a few degrees C colder than the Medieval Warm Period c. 1100.

[Revelation 911]

Rochester - right on Lake Ontario

[ozzymandus]

Please do not confuse the alarmists with facts.

[Twinkie]

The State of Georgia is trying to take a great big bite out of Tennessee to get the water they need. It would change the shape of the state if they could manage that. - I think we should help them out with some water, but not to a bite of the state.

[Sherman Logan]

All water is recycled sewage. Every single molecule of water has been through the hydrographic cycle billions of times. Evaporation and rainfall is nature’s way of recycling.

The issue is whether recycled sewage has been recycled thoroughly enough.