3 August 2019 | New Scientist | 5“IS THIS the beginning of the water
wars?” It is a question New Scientist
asked back in 2008, as drought forced
the authorities in Barcelona to consider
importing drinking water from over the
border in France.
It seems a little hyperbolic now. But a
decade ago, it was a common theme that
the next big conflict would be over water.
Today such talk has all but disappeared
from public debate, subsumed into
wider concerns about climate change.
The two issues are, of course,
inseparable. Global warming is altering
weather patterns, prolonging periods of
drought in some places, while making
rainfall more intense and unpredictable
in others. To see the future, look to
Australia: while New South Wales
experiences a prolonged drought, in
February parts of northern Queenslandhad monsoon conditions with 1.4 metres
of rain in just two weeks.
It is a slippery slope from water stress
to water conflict. More than 4 billion
people – half of humanity – experience
severe water scarcity for at least one
month a year. The Water Conflict
Chronology, published by the Pacific
Institute in Oakland, California, lists
279 instances of conflict over water
since 2010.
With global water demand projectedto rise by 20 to 30 per cent by 2050,
new flashpoints will emerge. A paper
last year by researchers at the European
Commission’s Joint Research Centre
identified five major regions of concern:
the river systems of the Nile, Ganges-
Brahmaputra, Indus, Tigris-Euphrates
and Colorado.
Ensuring everyone has access to clean,
safe and reliable drinking water is in all
our interests, as is carefully managing
this most precious of resources,
wherever we live in the world. Big,
forward-thinking solutions such as
technology that can draw drinking water
from the air can be part of the solution
(see page 38). Researcher Omar Baghi’s
drive came from personal experience of
water shortage as a child.
We must do all we can to ensure future
generations don’t go to war over water. ❚Water, water everywhere...
New thinking is required to avoid conflict over the world’s drinking supplies
Global water
demand is
projected to rise
by 20 to 30 per
cent by 2050PETER CADE/GETTYThe leader
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