Water Water Everywhere

Recently we had a student from RPI come speak to us who was originally from Yemen. During the course of our discussion he brought up a topic which has fascinated me for awhile: water crises. The idea that a country might, in the future, run out of water, or in some other way have their water supply crippled. To water rich citizens like ourselves this seems like an outlandish idea, but in many countries it is a definite possibility. Yemen, for example, may run out of water within the next decade (1). In Sudan 12.3 million people have no access to clean drinking water. This means that only 30% of the rural population and 40% of the urban population in Sudan actually have clean drinking water (2). Similar water quality crises can be seen in Venezuela, Cuba, Zimbabwe, and Tunisia (3). Other problems involve widespread drought, the shrinking of rivers, lakes and seas (take, for example, the Aral sea), and desertification. And, if you are the leader, or leaders in countries which are experiencing such problems you have to ask yourself how you are going to react. Will you go to war with neighboring countries who might have more water, but risk coming off worse than you were to begin with? Do you just ignore the problem because it might not affect you personally? Or, do you attempt to trade whatever resources you might have for water?

In the future this might affect the United States as well. Not necessarily in a water shortage way, but water may become one of our more important trading commodities. We may not be the most water rich country in the world, and we have experienced several major droughts over the years. But, we are also one of the most prominent countries on the global stage. From an economic standpoint we are in a fairly strong position. This problem also poses a moral quandary. How do we approach this situation? . We could approach it from a humanitarian standpoint and just set up programs for nations to donate water to countries which are lacking. Or we could try to profit, and force other countries into trade agreements. For example, Yemen has oil reserves with recent estimates saying they are producing around 320,600 barrels per day (though their reserves are quickly running out), and they also have large natural gas reserves (4). We could easily exploit such a situation either by trading for their oil or by taking a percentage of whatever profit they make off their natural gas. Or we could even just sit back and let such situations resolve themselves. Personally I believe in a humanitarian effort, but that's neither here nor there. We can also do more in the area of desalination. In developing countries building a desalination plant, and then building an infrastructure to transport the water all over the country can be incredibly expensive. But if they can get the infrastructure and plants they need in place then, and if they are located near the ocean, then they can have basically an unlimited supply of water.

Clearly, there are many considerations on both sides of this equation in this case, and the countries involved have many other problems to face. Yemen is facing an insurgency of Al Qaeda, and are also facing down a rebel insurgency (5). Sudan has the conflict in Darfur. Both nations also face widespread corruption in their governments. The student who came and talked so admitted so himself. The US must also consider it's own self-interests before acting. But, who knows? Maybe someday we will be exporting as many barrels of water as barrels of oil.

1. http://www.al-bab.com/bys/articles/ward01.htm

2.http://blueplanetrun.org/youthboard/sudan

3.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_Crisis#Overview_of_regions_suffering_crisis_impacts

4.http://www.indexmundi.com/yemen/oil_production.html

5.http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125417307132347371.html?mod=WSJ_hpp_MIDDLTopStories