12% of population uses 85% of water

1. WATER WARS 12% of population uses 85% of water Zoltan Grossman The Evergreen State College http://academic.evergreen.edu/g/grossmaz

2. Sources of water Surface fresh water: 3% of liquid water, which is 13% of fresh water, which is 2.4% of water

3. Precipitation Patterns

4. U.S. Water Policy • Through most of US history, water policies have generally worked against conservation. • In well-watered eastern states, water policy was based on riparian use rights. • In drier western regions where water is often a limiting resource, water law is based primarily on prior appropriation rights. • Fosters “Use it or Lose it” policies.

5. Ogallala Aquifer High- capacity well withdrawals

6. Dried-up reservoir

7. Western U.S. water conflicts Klamath Basin, Oregon vs. Farmers. Ranchers. “Wise Users” Commercial fishers, Sport fishers, Tribes, Environmentalists

8. Climate change affecting freshwater

9. Nisqually Glacier, Mt. Rainier

10. Bulk water transfers River system diversions(Canada-to-U.S.)Water pipelines(Canada/Great Lakes-to-Southwest)Supertankers(North America-to-Asia)Canadian government banned bulk transfers in 1999.

11. WATER AVAILABILITY AND USE • Renewable Water Supplies • Made up of surface runoff and infiltration into accessible freshwater aquifers. • Readily accessible, renewable supplies are 400,000 gal/person/year.

12. Depleting Groundwater • Groundwater is the source of nearly 40% of fresh water in the U.S. • On a local level, withdrawing water faster than it can be replenished leads to a cone of depression in the water table, • On a broader scale, heavy pumping can deplete an aquifer. • Mining non-renewable resource.

13. Depleting Groundwater

14. FRESHWATER SHORTAGES • Estimated 1.5 billion people lack access to an adequate supply of drinking water. • Nearly 3 billion lack acceptable sanitation. • Freshwater withdrawals doubled in 50 yrs. • A country where consumption exceeds more than 20% of available, renewable supply is considered vulnerable to water stress.

15. Global Water Use Growth

16. A Precious Resource • 45 countries have serious water stress, and cannot meet the minimum essential water requirements of their citizens. • More than two-thirds of world’s households have to retrieve water from outside the home.

17. Water use and commodification

19. PRIVATIZATION • Price mechanisms charging a higher proportion of real costs to users of public water projects has helped encourage conservation. • Yet discriminates against poor.

20. Global water Industry Over $140 Billion a year The World Water and Wastewater Utilities Market is estimated at $142 billion US in 2000… (2000, $US)

21. Water multinationals

22. Public/private water in EU countries

23. Public and private prices in France

24. “Water War” in Bolivia Cochabamba residents protesting Bechtel privatization of municipal water system, 1999

25. Private and public: subsidies to and from water Private Public Subsidies from taxation Loss leaders Water services Financing other MNC operations Financing other public services

26. Alternative: Porto Alegre, Brazil Autonomous department • Efficiency and public accountability • ‘Participatory budgeting’ • Decentralised democratic prioritizing

27. Alternative: Debrecen, Hungary • Preferred public to private • Cheaper • Financial comparison

29. Safety of municipal water supplies Australia, 1998 (privatized system) Wisconsin, 1993 Ontario, 2000 (gov’t had dropped e-coli testing)

30. BOTTLED WATER costs more than oil

31. Bottled water quality in question

32. Bottled water growth

33. Water Privatization Woodstock Riot 1999 Fewer bubblers in public buildings?

34. Perrier/Nestle in the U.S. Texas Florida

35. Perrier/Nestle in the Midwest Wisconsin Michigan Alliance of farmers, sportfishers, tribe, environmentalists prevents Perrier from pumping springs, 1999-2002 Protection of rural supplies from high- capacity wells

37. “NEW GEOGRAPHY OF CONFLICT” “Possible flashpoint for resource conflict” Water systems & aquifers • Jordan • Nile • Tigris – Euphrates • Amu Darya • Indus • Mountain Aquifer (West Bank/Israel)”

38. Water diversions from rivers Yellow River (Huang He) In northern China Colorado River Delta in U.S./Mexico

39. Soviet diversion of rivers to the Aral Sea • Once the 4th largest inland body of water in the world A series of dams was built to irrigate cotton. • Aral Sea reduced to about 25% of its 1960 volume, quadrupled the salinity of the lake and wiped out the fishery. Pollutants became airborne as dust, causing significant local health problems. • The environmental damage caused has been estimated at $1.25 -$2.5 billion a year.

40. Middle East Water Conflicts

41. Israeli- Palestinian Water Conflict Israel uses 82% Of West Bank groundwater; charges Arabs 3x

42. Israel’s boundary with Egypt and Gaza (Palestine)

43. Dead Sea Shrinkage

44. Tigris and Euphrates rivers Turkey Iraq

45. International cooperation on water use

46. DAMS

47. Major investments … 6 000 • 45,000 large dams • 2 dams commissioned per day in1970s • Total investment exceeds $2 trillion • flow in 60% of world’s rivers affected • 19% of world’s electricity from hydropower • Other dams for irrigation, flood control, water supply NUMBER OF DAMS 4 000 2 000 0 1900 1990s

49. Dam projects increasingly questioned • Affected populations strongly oppose dams • Proponents point to development demands • Opponents point to adverse impacts • Uprisings against globalization • Examples: Narmada (India), Three Gorges (China), Gabcikovo (Slovakia/Hungary)

50. Significant impacts on riverine & downstream ecosystems… • Sediment, salinity, and herbicide concentrations • Biodiversity losses • Fish migration, nutrient flows blocked • Evaporation in reservoirs • Reservoirs emit greenhouse gases • Flooding if dam fails • 67% of ecosystem changes in survey are negative