Water wars? Thirsty, energy-short China stirs fear

[Viva_La_Revolution]

Source: AP

BAHIR JONAI, India (AP) -- The wall of water raced through narrow Himalayan gorges in northeast India, gathering speed as it raked the banks of towering trees and boulders. When the torrent struck their island in the Brahmaputra river, the villagers remember, it took only moments to obliterate their houses, possessions and livestock.

No one knows exactly how the disaster happened, but everyone knows whom to blame: neighboring China.

"We don't trust the Chinese," says fisherman Akshay Sarkar at the resettlement site where he has lived since the 2000 flood. "They gave us no warning. They may do it again."

About 800 kilometers (500 miles) east, in northern Thailand, Chamlong Saengphet stands in the Mekong river, in water that comes only up to her shins. She is collecting edible river weeds from dwindling beds. A neighbor has hung up his fishing nets, his catches now too meager.

Read more: http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/A/AS_ASIA_WATERS_BATTLEFIELD?SITE=MELEE&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2011-04-16-10-44-14

[madrchsod]

1. this century`s world war will be in asia over natural resources

[FreeStateDemocrat]

2. I hope this is one world war we sit out, but there is too much money to be made with continuous war.

[The Backlash Cometh]

3. Maybe we can now pull moisture out of the air...or not.

[Gregorian]

4. World population must be reduced. People just don't see that it is the cause of these issues.

Constant resource supply versus exponentially growing demand. There is no alternative to fewer humans placing demands on this little planet. Engineer all we can, and it will be obliterated by growth of population.

Why do people think that overpopulation only applies to animals? We're way way way over the limit that this planet can sustain without pulling it out of equilibrium.

[JCMach1]

5. the MENA region is especially vulnerable

...Without effective policies, change in water usage behaviour and international cooperation, a catastrophic water scarcity will hit the Middle East and North Africa (Mena) region within the next ten years, a senior regional diplomat said in the capital yesterday.

Countries therefore need to cooperate effectively at the regional and international level to avert such a disaster, especially as 60 per cent of the water sources in the region are shared across borders, Abdul Rahman Khalil Ahmad, minister plenipotentiary of water and natural resources at the Sudan Ministry of Foreign Affairs, told Gulf News.

"While water safe for drinking and agriculture is running short dramatically in the Mena region, policies to tackle this crisis are lagging behind. We therefore need to include the problem of water scarcity into our foreign policies, and also create public awareness about the problem so that people reduce their water consumption," Ahmad said... http://m.gulfnews.com/news/gulf/uae/environment/region-only-a-decade-away-from-severe-water-crisis-1.771290

[Gregorian]

6. What I said is tangential. The immediate situation is a tragedy the world needs to help avoid.

Even in the west I'm seeing decreasing water levels in streams over the last decade. I don't know if it's an error, or a temporary situation.

A great uncle of mine was an engineer who owned the company that put in the first nuclear reactors in this country. He wrote a book sometime around 1959. One of the chapters was devoted solely to the water supply in the future. It was strange when I first read it. But not so strange now.

[JCMach1]

7. Florida has been drying-up for years...

Water is a huge issue going forward. There may be wars between countries, but the fiercest battles will be between people, farmers and corporations all competing for fresh water.