Worldwide Water Issues: Middle East & Great Lakes

The Water Team has thrown a lot of water facts and figures at you over the past year. While this information is accurate and relevant, at a certain point, it starts to become too abstract, as if it all takes place in a world other than your own. We understand! So the next 3 water bulletins will tell stories about real water problems in real places. Lest you think that water problems only happen in developing countries, each bulletin will share one example from the USA and one from another spot on the globe. The Middle East The scarcity and rapid diminishment of water happen to occur in some of the driest sectors of an area where there are also some of the fiercest national animosities. Water sources in the Middle East are being strained by the regional demands of agriculture, a growing population, industry, expanding urban centers and aquatic ecosystems. As consumption has increased, so has environmental degradation, mainly in the form of water-quality deterioration, salinization, waste-water pollution, and reduction in the yield of heavily exploited aquifers. There are very few treaties among Arab States and their neighbors that regulate common use and general management of shared surface water and aquifer resources. This critical issue, if unsolved and inadequately addressed, will remain a potential cause of delayed development, conflicts and cause divides between the Arab states and their neighbors. When looking at the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, it is important to realize that it is as much about resources as it is about land. West Bank settlements are located on top or near groundwater wells, a strategy that dates back to the earliest days of the settler movement, but the situation has worsened over the past decade. A 2009 report gives a detailed look at how Israel deprives the West Bank and Gaza of the most basic commodity for human survival: water. This is a problem that consumes a growing share of Palestinian GDP and Palestinians must now pay an estimated 8 per cent of their household budgets for adequate water supplies, about double the globally accepted standard. At an International Conference in Jordan in February 2010, scientists warned that governments in the Middle East must put aside political differences, re-think water management and revise strategy and policy in using water, otherwise the region will face a dire future. In April 2010, the US undersecretary for democracy and global affairs, traveled to Israel, Jordan and Egypt to promote cooperation in the use and sharing of water and underscored the need to elevate diplomatic efforts surrounding water to aid in achieving peaceful coexistence in the area. The Great Lakes Water Footprints, sale of deep-well water, over-consumption, continued pollution...the Great Lakes, USA are already involved in water wars which will continue to expand and threaten our entire planet. The stakes are high; the Great Lakes hold one fifth of the Earth’s fresh water supply. U.S. Congressman Bart Stupak from Michigan recently reinforced that the Great Lakes and the groundwater that feeds them are held in the public trust. “The desires of foreign and out-of-state interests should never supersede the interests of Michigan residents when it comes to the Great Lakes.” Congressional records describe an area of the country, desperately working to ensure fresh water for all, for generations to come. While rumors of Lake Michigan water being piped to the Southwest states, such as Arizona, have been buzzing throughout the region for decades, a visit in the summer of 2009 proved that the issue is hotter than ever: • In the State of Michigan, private water bottling companies are being challenged in the courts as they continue to pump valuable water out of the deep aquifers. One recent example: MICHIGAN CITIZENS FOR WATER CONSERVATION, v GREAT SPRING WATERS OF AMERICA, INC. “Plaintiffs submit that this Court has the authority to rule that the water pumped by Perrier has been and is part of Michigan’s public domain, and that under the State’s common law the water is not capable of privatization or exploitation as a commodity for sale…” • The Great Lakes Water Compact has just been implemented by the eight states involved, but there are already worries a loophole may open the door for private companies to bottle water from the basin. • Invasive, predatory plant and animal species have become an increasing problem in recent years due primarily to their introduction into the lakes from foreign bilge water used in the shipping industry. • Sewage discharges continue to close Great Lakes beaches, threaten public health, and damage local economies. • Degraded drinking water infrastructure is a costly challenge for many communities. The American Society of Civil Engineers estimates that repairs to the existing water infrastructure will require an investment of over $75 billion dollars over a twenty-year period. Water problems can be found everywhere, and they are here to stay. It is up to us to decide…do we sink or swim? Water Team members: CC Kent, Debra Yonker-Hecht, Anne van Oorschot