WATER WARS
By Sita Wickramsinghe
The idea of “Water wars” is something we will be hearing about for future generations to come.
Water wars have already begun, in fact.
Water is taking over from oil as the likeliest cause of conflict in the world. We all agree that
without water there is no life. Water is needed for industries, agriculture and populations. Water
should be safe enough for humans to use. Since everyone is affected by water consumptions
then we can say that everyone is a stakeholder to this global issue.
Water rights to the River Jordan precipitated the 6-Day War in the Middle East. For more than
10 years in the late 1950’s and early 1960’s, Israel and Syria struggled over rights to the waters
of the Jordan
a water program
the the Kingdom
Syria and other
water from one
These activities
disputes and,
the Six-Day War
against Syria,
that war, Israel
and the site of the
enabled Israel to
Banyas by the
control of the
River as well as
Yarmouk1 Sadly,
poor regional
River today is
River. In 1964, Israel began
which reduced water flow
of Jordan. Subsequently,
Arab states began diverting
of the Jordan’s tributaries.
led to a series of border
ultimately, the outbreak of
in June 1967 between Israel
Jordan, and Egypt. During
captured the Golan Heights
Banyas headwaters, which
prevent the diversion of the
Syrians. Israel also gained
West-Bank, the Jordan
the northern bank of the
due to overexploitation and
management, the Jordan
dying.2
I’ve concentrated
on three fights going on
today. The first is
the Nile River in Africa
which affects nine countries; the next is Lake Lanier in the United States, the rights over which
have kept Georgia, Alabama and Florida in court cases since the late 80’s. Finally, I’ll talk about
the “wars” over privatization of water.
Controlling the Nile
While it is agreed that water can not be owned, there are methods in which water supply can be
controlled. Such as the case with the 4,100 mile long Nile River. In 1929 the colonial power,
Britain sponsored an agreement over the usage of the Nile River water. Egypt was given the use
of almost 80%, Sudan 10%. The seven upstream countries had to share the remaining 10%.
1
Today, these seven upstream countries – Ethiopia, Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Congo, Burundi
and Rwanda are rejecting that colonial deal and asserting their rights to more water. 4
3
The British rationale was that the upstream countries had plenty of rainfall, while Egypt and
Sudan depended totally on the Nile’s water. Both of these countries have refused to sign a new
2010 agreement that would give all upstream nations equal access to the Nile River water.5
Egypt is talking about the use of airpower to threaten Ethiopia.
Ethiopia, through the Blue Nile tributary, contributes most of the Nile waters. Figure 1 Map
of the Nile River showing countries which draw from it. The
Nile flows from South the North. It begins as the White Nile
in Uganda and flows north into Egypt and the
Mediterranean Sea.
About 85% of the Nile waters originate in Ethiopia,
which nation sees hydro-power dams as a potential
cash cow in exporting electric power.6 Construction
of the Merowe Dam in Sudan, will irrigate vast
sugar and wheat growing areas in the north of this
country. The electric power generated from this
dam will be sent to the capital city of Khartoum to
solve its energy crisis. But this will provoke the
upstream nations now unhappy with the old Nile
Waters Treaty.
To further complicate the political situation, is the
coming breakup of Sudan into two nations. In early
2011, a referendum was held under the UNO. The
people of the ‘south Sudan’ voted overwhelmingly
to create a new nation. This new nation will also
demand more Nile River water rights.
2
The Battle for Lake Lanier
Here in the United States, “Lake Lanier was created by the completion of Buford Dam on the
Chattahoochee River in 1956, and is also fed by the waters of the Chestatee River. The lake's
original and authorized purposes were to provide hydroelectricity and flood control.”7 But
Georgia is now trying to take more water for their city Atlanta, which now has more than 3
million residents that depend on Lake Lanier for their water supply which brings low water
levels to Alabama and Florida.
In 1990 – Alabama joined Florida in a suit against Georgia’s plans to build regional reservoirs.
By 2006 a drought hit the Southeast, causing water levels in Lake Lanier go to historic lows.
Florida and Alabama brought the matter to court, claiming that the Corps of Engineers, which
has authority to operate the water flow, were wrong in allowing Atlanta to draw water from the
lake.. In July 2009, a Federal judge ruled that Lake Lanier was never meant ot be used as a
water supply for Atlanta, and gave the city just three years to stop drawing water from Lanier,
unless, in the meantime, either the three states came to an agreement or Congress acted to
authorize water withdrawal for Atlanta. Atlanta authorities state that drinking water to the
Atlanta region would be cut 75% if the ruling is enforced. 8
Figure 2 Map showing drainage basin of Lake Lanier
Lake Lanier is actually a
reservoir built by the
Army Corps of
Engineers and is subject
to Federal Government
Regulation under the
Federal Water Supply
Act.9
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Regional Water Wars – The Battle over Water Privatization
The water bottle companies have done so much advertising that they have our society thinking
that tap water is unsafe. Many people believe that because the plastic bottle is sealed that it is
safe yet studies have shown that tap water has to meet certain rigid regulations; while bottle
water is much less regulated. “In fact, unlike tap water, regulations allow bottled water to contain
some contamination by E. coli or fecal coli form” 10
“Unfortunately, this is not always the case, as evidenced by the worldwide recall of Perrier, in
which the bottled water was found to have benzene, a poison that has produced cancer in lab
animals”
Increasing sales of bottled water have led to increasing privatization of water sources such as
springs, lakes, streams and aquifers. Global bottled water sales have grown dramatically over
the past several decades, reaching a valuation of around $60 billion in 2006. U.S. sales reached
around 34 billion liters in 2008. The global rate of consumption more than quadrupled between
1990 and 2005. By one estimate, approximately 50 billion bottles of water are consumed per
annum in the U.S. and around 200 billion bottles globally.
The volume of pumping has resulted in depletion of water sources and pollution of water
sources. In Mecosta County, Michigan, for example, citizens took the Nestle Company to court,
where a judge found that evidence showed that Nestle’s pumping of 400 gallons of water per
minute from the Sanctuary Springer Aquifer was depleting the aquifer and harming adjacent
wetlands.11
Many other states and communities are fighting Nestle in court over water privatization.
Nestle, which has 12 U.S. brands of bottled water and almost $4.3 billion in North American
sales in 2007 has the ability to fight a lawsuit for years. A small community that might depend
on the water that Nestle is taking doesn’t have those types or resources, yet many water bottle
companies are arguing that they bring local jobs and tax money to the area. Some other water
companies from other countries are looking for cash-strapped governments to take over public
water services. Contracts are often 25 to 30 year terms.
Citizens of McCloud, California, for example, discovered in 2003 that Nestle had been granted
rights to pump 500 million gallons of spring water annually from the area and use unlimited
amounts of water drawn from local aquifers in its operation. The town fought back, and in 2009
Nestle announced it was withdrawing its proposal to build a water bottling facility in McCloud. 12
Communities and some state government officials in Florida, New Hampshire, Massachusetts,
Maine, Wisconsin and Michigan continue to battle Nestle.13
4
The Environmental Registry in Canada is considering charges that Nestle Canada’s pumping
there is causing a change in the groundwater discharge volume to Mill Creek and that Surface
water from Mill Creek is being sucked into the groundwater as a direct result of Nestlé’s water
taking.
Conflict over privatization is not confined to the United States, or to the Nestle company, and
conflict over privatization has even led to riots and deaths. The residents of Cochambamba,
Bolivia, waged a six year war against San Francisco’s Bechtel Corporation over the privatization
of its water. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) loan to Bolivia in 1988 required the city of
Cochabamba to sell its public owned water agency. The contract was signed to sell the
Municipal water system to a subsidiary of US based Bechtel Corporation on a 40 year
concession. Under the concession terms, Bechtel had gained rights over all of Cochambamba’s
water, over wells that had been dug by local communities, and even over rainwater itself..14
After privatization, water bills amounted to 20 or 30 percent of the income of poor households.
Families earning as little as 80 to 100 dollars a month began to be charged 20 dollars a month for
water.
Under the concession terms, Bechtel had gained rights over all of Cochambamba’s water, over
wells that had been dug by local communities, and even over rainwater itself.
Bechtel was granted the power to seize the homes of violators or delinquent customers.
In 2000, riots broke out in Cochambamba over privatization, and some residents were actually
killed. The dispute was settled in 2006 in this official communique from the Bolivian
government and Bechtel: “The Government of Bolivia and the international shareholders of
Aguas del Tunari (which includes Bechtel) declare that the concession was terminated only
because of the civil unrest and the state of emergency in Cochabamba and not because of any act
done or not done by the international shareholders of Aguas del Tunari. No one was held to
blame.
Other privatization companies moved in and Cochambama still suffers from water problems.
In 2007, the New Yorker magazine reported: "in Cochabamba, those who are not on the network
and who have no well, pay ten times as much for their water as the relatively wealthy residents
who are hooked up", and with no new capital the situation can not be improved. A local resident
complained that water-truck operators "drill polluted water and sell it.
In conclusion, water is something we will be hearing more about as it affects our everyday lives
in the future. We need to start thinking about where our water comes from and how it is treated.
Watersita
Page 5 2/9/2016 is a necessity.
Learning to conserve water especially in America where the knowledge of water is far
misunderstood shall help us overcome issues we may find in the near future.
Below is a link on 100 ways to conserve water. Something for all of us to reference.
http://www.wateruseitwisely.com/100-ways-to-conserve/index.php
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1
http://www1.american.edu/ted/ice/jordan.htm
2
http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/jordan-river-could-die-by-2011-1968847.html
3
http://www.transboundarywaters.orst.edu/research/case_studies/Nile_New.htm
http://www.circleofblue.org/waternews/2009/world/african-states-fail-to-agree-on-new-shares-of-the-nilebasin/
4
5
http://blog.dailyalert.org/2010/07/02/nile-river-water-war/
6
http://blogs.reuters.com/africanews/2010/07/07/nile-river-row-could-it-turn-violent/
7
http://www.atlantaregional.com/environment/tri-state-water-wars
8
http://www.bizjournals.com/atlanta/stories/2009/07/13/daily102.html
http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/R41002.pdf
9
10
http://www.ionizers.org/bottled-water.html
12
http://www.stopcorporateabuse.org/business-week-town-torn-apart-nestle
13
http://documents.foodandwat0erwatch.org/Nestle-web.pdf
14
http://www.pbs.org/frontlineworld/stories/bolivia/timeline.html
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