World Water Day
Wednesday marked World Water Day around the world and as I have stated in the past, water is one of my main focuses. This is meant to be a day in which awareness can be raised on the issue surrounding the world water supply. As I have written on the topic of water months ago, I dug up an old post that seems fitting for today.
Thursday September 27, 2007
Of Whiskey, Water and Rights
“Whiskey is for drinking, water is for fighting over.” Mark Twain.
If you have not noticed I am very interested in water issues and the laws which protect this precious resource. I have written papers on water policy and issues while getting responses from professors stating “excellent geography paper on water, however this is a political science class.” Or vice versa. I think four corresponding statements and facts shaped my interest and led to the past four years of my life revolving around researching water issues.
The first fact comes from what I mentioned on Tuesday, a significant portion of the world’s population, are forced to spend large portions of their days carrying water. This burden is most often placed on women and children, and the time taken to gather water is seen to actually be one of the root causes behind the status of women in the third world. This is still utterly inconceivable to me as I and every one I know can get water at anytime of the day.
The second idea that has promoted this idea is the statement by World Bank Vice President Ismail Serageidin, “The wars of the 20th Century were fought over the oil- the wars of the 21st Century will be fought over water.” Water is becoming scarcer as the countries are facing shortages in some of the most politically vulnerable areas of the world. South Africa, Israel, the Middle East in general, the South Western United States and Mexico are all facing severe water shortages. Very few options are available as ground water and rivers are being drained to quench human thirst. As a student of political science I found it interesting that so called political “hot spots” often correspond with regions that are on short supply for water.
The third is the sale of water in general. Water is being made into a good that can be sold between nations. The most shocking aspect is that millions of North Americans in particular are already paying over a thousand times over the market price for water in the form of bottled water. Even though simply turning on the water tap can provide us with water at a cheaper price. We see it subtly in public buildings where a soda vending machine will take the place of a drinking fountain. We see it when companies bid on public water infrastructure. We cannot see the people in developing countries who must pay extreme prices for the water that they need to live.
Lastly is the fact that there is an ongoing debate among the United Nations and the World Trade Organization as to whether or not water is a right or a need. The debate over whether or not water is a human right will determine if we are forced to pay for water to those who claim ownership. However, two major documents were passed in Canada during the last two decades of the 20th Century; the Charter of Rights and the North American Free Trade Agreement. Unfortunately, it was not Trudeau’s Charter of Rights that mentions water.
The next decade will see dramatic changes in the distribution of water. We can no longer move to new areas of the world in search of water as our ancestors did before us. As water is my obsession I will delve into this more but for now I leave one more quote to consider.
“Water is the most basic of all resources. Civilizations grew or withered depending on its availability”-Nathan Snyder.
Will we grow or wither?
