Growing up in Israel in the 1960's, we were always urged toconserve precious water. Rainfall was rare and meager, the sunscorching, our only sweet water lake under constant threat bythe Syrians. Israelis were being shot at hauling water cisternsor irrigating their parched fields. Water was a matter of lifeand death - literally.
Drought often conspires with man-made disasters. Macedoniaexperienced its second worst dry spell during the civil strifeof last year. Benighted Afghanistan is having one now - repletewith locusts. Rapid, unsustainable urbanization,desertification, exploding populations, and economic growth,especially of water-intensive industries, such as microprocessorfabs - all contribute to the worst water crisis the world hasever known.
Governments reacted late, hesitantly, and haltingly. Waterconservation, desalination, water rights exchanges, water pacts,private-public partnerships, and privatization of utilities(e.g., in Argentina and the UK) - may have been implemented toolittle, too late.
Rising incomes lead to the exertion of political pressure on theauthorities by civic movements and NGO's to improve waterquality and availability. But can the authorities help?According to the World Bank, close to $600 billion will beneeded by 2010 just to augment existing reserves and to improvewater grade levels.
The UNDP believes that half the population in Africa will besubject to wrenching water shortages in 25 years. Theenvironmental research institute, Worldwatch, quoted by the BBC,recommends food imports as a way to economize on water.
It takes 1000 tons of water to produce 1 ton of grain andagriculture consumes almost 70 percent of the world's water -though only less than 30 percent in OECD countries. It takesmore than the entire throughput of the Nile to grow the grainimported annually by Middle Eastern and North African countriesalone. Some precipitation-poor countries even grow cotton andrice, both insatiable crops. By 2020, says the World WaterCouncil, we will be short 17 percent of the water that would beneeded to feed the population.
The USA withdraws one fifth of its total resources annually -proportionately, one half of Belgium's drawdown. But accordingto the OECD, Americans are the most profligate consumers offresh water, more than double the OECD's average in the 1990's.Britain and Denmark have actually reduced their utilization by20 percent between 1980 and 1996 - probably due to sharp andominous drops in their water tables.
Stratfor, a strategic forecasting firm, reported on May 14 thatMexico and the USA are in the throes of a conflict over Mexico's"failure to live up to its water supply commitments under a 1944treaty", which allocates water from the Colorado, Rio Concho,and Rio Grande among the two signatories.
Mexico seems to have accumulated a daunting debt of 1.5 millionacre-feet over the last 8 years - the result of a decade longdrought. Each acre-foot is c. 1.2 million liters. Mexico'sreservoirs are less than 25 percent full. Some of the water,though, has been used to transform its borderland into a majorproducer of fresh vegetables for the American market - at theexpense of Texas farmers.
Faced with the worst drought in more than a century in somestates, the Bush administration has announced on May 3 that itis considering sanctions, including, perhaps the suspension ofwater supplies from the Colorado to Mexico. Texas lawmakersdemanded to re-open NAFTA and amend it punitively.
Mexico is a typical case. Only 9 percent of its streams andrivers are fit for drinking. Its underground water is almostequally polluted. Its infrastructure is crumbling, leading tosevere seepage of more than two fifths of the water. Half of therest evaporates in open canals.
Moreover, water is under-priced, thus encouraging wastefulconsumption, mainly by farmers. Stratfor cites an estimatepublished in the May 5 issue Fort Worth Star-Telegram - morethan $60 billion will be needed over the next decade torefurbish Mexico's urban and rural networks.
William K. Reilly, former administrator of the EPA, writing inthe "ITT Industries Guidebook to Global Water Issues", mentionsthe human cost of water scarcity: a million dead children ayear, a billion people without access to treated water, almostdouble this number without sanitation.
More than 11,000 people died in a cholera epidemic induced bypolluted water in Latin America in the 1990's. Every year,according to the World Bank, the amount of water polluted equalsthe quantity of water consumed. In many parts of the world,notably in Africa, people walk for hours to obtain theircontaminated daily water rations.
Water shortage hobbles industrial production in places asdiverse as Sicily and Malaysia. The lower estuaries of theYellow River - China's most important - are now dry two thirdsof the year. The water table beneath China's fertile northernplane is falling by 1.5 meters a year.
The drought in Sri Lanka is so severe and so prolonged that theInternational Red Cross had to intervene and launch an appealfor emergency funds. The Mekong River, which flows from China toVietnam, is being obstructed by 7 Chinese dams underconstruction. Once completed, its flow will be reduced by half.
Close to 200 million people in seven countries will be affected.In a retaliatory move, Laos is planning to hold back c. 70percent of its contribution to the Mekong by constructing 23dams. Thailand follows with 20 percent of its contribution and amere 4 dams. Vietnam is likely to pay the price of this "damwar". Thailand is sufficiently rich to simply buy the water itneeds from its truculent neighbors.
Australia is in no better shape. The diversion of Snowy Riverinland led to massive salinization of the lands it irrigates -Australia's bread basket. Many of the tributaries are now unfitfor either irrigation or drinking. In India, the holy river,Ganges, is depleted and impregnated with poisonous arsenic.
A long running dispute is simmering between India and Bangladeshregarding this dwindling lifeline, recent progress innegotiations notwithstanding. This is reminiscent of a lowintensity conflict that has been brewing along the banks of theNile between an assertive Egypt and the encroaching Sudan andEthiopia since the Nile Basin Initiative has been signed in 1993.
A July 2000 conference of the riparian states, backed by thelikes of the World Bank and the United Nations, eased thetension somewhat by promulgating a workable plan to redistributethe African river's throughput. The emphasis in the February2001 meeting of the International Consortium Cooperation on theNile, though, was on hydro-power over the contentious minefieldof water usage rights.
Turkey is constructing more than two dozen dams on the Tigrisand Euphrates within the Southeastern Anatolia Project (GAP).Once completed, Turkey will have the option to deprive bothSyria and Iraq of their main sources of water, though it vowednot to do so. In a cynical twist, it offers to sell them waterfrom its Manavgat river. Iraq's own rivers have shriveled byhalf. Still, this is the less virulent and violent of the waterconflicts in the Middle East.
Israel controls the Kinneret Sea of Galilee. It is the source ofone third of its water consumption. The rest it pumps fromrivers in the region, to the vocal dismay of Syria, Lebanon, andJordan. Despite decades of indoctrination, Israelis arewater-guzzlers. They quaff 4-6 times the water consumption oftheir Palestinian and Arab neighbors.
"The Economist" claims that:
"The argument over Syria's water rights to the Sea of Galilee isnow the only real stumbling-block to a peace treaty betweenSyria and Israel. Negotiations broke down last January, afterthe two sides appeared to agree on everything save the future ofa sliver of territory on the north-east coast of the sea. Israelhad insisted on keeping control of that, since the Sea ofGalilee supplies more than 40% of its drinking water."
Only two decades ago, the Aral Sea featured in encyclopedias asthe world's fourth largest inland brine. In a typicalhare-brained subterfuge, the communists diverted its two sources- the Amu Darya and Syr Darya - to grow cotton in the desert.The "sea" is now a series of disconnected, toxic, patchesoverlaid on a vast wasteland of salt.
But excess water can be as damaging to multilateralrelationships - and to the economy - as scarcity. Floods broughton by the Zambezi River have devastated the countries on itspath, despite their efforts to harness it. Often, thesecalamities are man-made. Zimbabwe wrought a deluge upon itsregion by opening the gates of the Kariba dam on March 2000. Thecountries of West Africa, from Ghana to Mali are "one riverstates". Their fortunes rise and fall with the flow and ebb ofwaterways.
Sometimes watercourses are conduits of destruction and death. Asingle - though massive - chemical spill in Romania on January31, 2000 devastated the entire Tisa River which runs throughYugoslavia and Hungary. Only when the waste reached the Danubedid the West wake up to the danger.
Nor are these phenomena confined to the poor precincts of ourplanet. The people of Catalonia in Spain are thirsty. Theycontemplate diverting water from the river Rhone in France toBarcelona. A two years old government plan to redistribute waterfrom rain-drenched regions to the arid 60 percent of Spain metwith stiff domestic resistance. The Ogallala aquifer in the USA,its largest, has been depleted to near oblivion. The BBCestimates that it lost the equivalent of 18 Colorado rivers by2000.
(continued)
About the author:Sam Vaknin ( http://samvak.tripod.com ) is the author ofMalignant Self Love - Narcissism Revisited and After the Rain -How the West Lost the East. He served as a columnist for CentralEurope Review, PopMatters, and eBookWeb , and Bellaonline, andas a United Press International (UPI) Senior BusinessCorrespondent. He is the the editor of mental health and CentralEast Europe categories in The Open Directory and Suite101.
CNN global warming misinformation makes its way to <em>The Radio Factor</em>
On <em>The Radio Factor</em>, guest host Douglas Urbanski cited a December 18 segment from CNN's <em>Lou Dobbs Tonight</em> to support the assertion, which has been widely discredited, that "man-made climate change" is "one of the biggest lies of our time" and in doing so echoed several of the debunked claims and suggestions about global warming included in that CNN segment.
"Winter storm" causes Dobbs to ask: "What's that global warming deal?"
Lou Dobbs said during the introduction of his CNN show: "And tonight, unusual winter storms are dumping snow in unusual places across Western states, and a huge snowstorm is headed toward the Northeast. This is global warming?" During his segment on the issue, Dobbs hosted Heartland Institute senior fellow and science director Jay Lehr without disclosing that Heartland receives funding from the energy industry and without challenging Lehr's assertions that "[t]he last 10 years have been quite cool" and that "the sun" -- rather than humans -- is responsible for recent climate change.
Levin cited "global cooling" study to dismiss efforts to "control carbon dioxide" emissions, ignoring warning by study's co-author not to do so
On his radio show, Mark Levin cited a recent study predicting that an ice age will occur in the next 10,000 to 100,000 years as purported evidence that humans should not "try and control carbon dioxide" emissions that contribute to global climate change. But Levin did not mention that the study's co-author reportedly warned against using the study to argue that "we should stop fighting warming" and stated: "There's no excuse for saying 'we've got to keep pumping carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.' "
Milwaukee radio host smeared "greedy, overpaid unionized schoolteacher[s]" who talk about global warming
On his Milwaukee radio talk show, Mark Belling referred to schoolteachers who talk to their students about global warming as "idiot union teacher[s]," "liberal unionized hack[s]," "greedy, overpaid unionized schoolteacher[s]," and "fruitcake[s]."
Hannity compared carbon offsets to "cheat[ing] on your wife," ignored Murdoch's efforts to make News Corp. carbon neutral
On <em>Hannity & Colmes</em>, Sean Hannity criticized the purchase of credits to offset one's "carbon footprint," asserting, "Those offsets -- that is the biggest hoax in the world. ... You know what it's like? You go cheat on your wife, and then say, 'Honey, but don't worry. I bought an offset.' Good luck." Hannity has yet to address the pledge by News Corp. chairman and CEO Rupert Murdoch "to be carbon neutral, across all our businesses" -- which includes Fox News -- "by 2010."
Discussing TCPR claims, O'Reilly said he'd "like to hear [Gore's] side of things," but ignored Gore's response to TCPR
Bill O'Reilly asserted: "The Tennessee Center for Policy Research [TCPR] says the former vice president [Al Gore] is still using a massive amount of energy at his Tennessee mansion -- more than 20 times the national average." O'Reilly later stated: "So it looks like Gore is a pinhead, but we would like to hear his side of things. And he has an open invitation to appear on the <em>Factor</em>." But at no point did O'Reilly mention that Gore has reportedly given "his side of things" in response to a June 17 TCPR press release on the subject of Gore's purported energy use.
Hume claimed Gore's "energy use has surged more than 10 percent," ignored Gore's response that it's all "green power"
On <em>Special Report</em>, citing purported findings by the Tennessee Center for Policy Research, Brit Hume claimed that Al Gore's "energy use has surged more than 10 percent" since environmentally friendly renovations were completed on his home. Hume offered no response from Gore. Responding to the charge, a Gore spokeswoman stated that "[w]hen [the Gores] do use power, it's green power." According to the Tennessee Valley Authority, green power "create[s] less waste and pollution" than standard electricity.
<em>Wash. Times</em>' Pruden falsely claimed that "the earth has been measurably cooling for the last decade"
In a <em>Washington Times</em> column, Wesley Pruden falsely claimed that "the earth has been measurably cooling for the last decade, despite everything [former Vice President] Al [Gore] and his followers have done about it." In fact, the United Kingdom's Met (Meteorological) Office lists as a "fact" that "[t]emperatures are continuing to rise" and states that "temperature change over the latest decade (1998-2007) alone shows a continued warming of 0.1° C per decade."
MSNBC hosted Breaux and Lott to defend oil and gas companies -- but failed to note they're lobbyists for them
On <em>MSNBC Live</em>, Andrea Mitchell discussed energy policy with former Sens. John Breaux and Trent Lott but failed to disclose that both are lobbyists for major oil and gas companies. While Mitchell said that Lott and Breaux "formed a firm" together, she did not note that their firm conducts lobbying or that its clients include oil and gas companies Chevron, Shell, and Plains Exploration & Production Co.
Beck revived falsehood that Bill Clinton said, "We've got to slow down our economy" to fight global warming
On his nationally syndicated radio show, Glenn Beck falsely claimed that former President Bill Clinton said, "We've got to slow down our economy" in order to combat global warming, and aired a portion of a speech Clinton made in January. However, as Clinton's full remarks make clear, he did not suggest "slow[ing] down our economy" to fight global warming.
Jonah Goldberg misrepresented Gore's comments about Hurricane Katrina
In his <em>Los Angeles Times</em> column, Jonah Goldberg asserted that in an NPR interview, Al Gore "chuckled" at the idea that Hurricane Katrina "was God's wrath for New Orleans' sexual depravity," then "went on to blame Katrina on man's energy sinfulness." In fact, Gore stated during the interview that "any individual storm can't be linked singularly to global warming." Goldberg also claimed that the numbers of polar bears "have quadrupled in the last 50 years"; in fact, data to support estimates of the polar bear population 50 years ago are reportedly nonexistent, recent growth in the polar bear population is believed to be linked to hunting bans, and the Department of Interior found that "the polar bear is likely to become an endangered species within the foreseeable future."
Previewing McCain's environment speech, Reuters did not mention his voting record or include criticisms of his positions
Reuters reported that Sen. John McCain would pledge "to take the lead in combating global climate change if elected president in a speech that set him apart from the policies of U.S. President George W. Bush." However, in reporting on McCain's environmental positions that his campaign believes will "win support from independents and centrist Democrats," Reuters did not mention his voting record and did not include any criticism of McCain's positions. By contrast, <em>The Washington Post</em> noted that "McCain's lifetime League of Conservation Voters score is 24 percent, compared with 86 for Obama and 86 for Clinton."
Fox's Baier misrepresented Gore's comments about Myanmar cyclone
Fox News' Bret Baier claimed that in an interview on NPR, "Former Vice President Al Gore says global warming is to blame for the cyclone in Myanmar." In fact, while Gore did discuss the cyclone in the context of global warming, he also stated -- just moments earlier -- that "any individual storm can't be linked singularly to global warming."
Fox's E.D. Hill falsely claimed that "U.N. meteorologists" say "the planet may actually cool off for the 10th year in a row"
On<em> America's Pulse</em>, host E.D. Hill falsely claimed, in a teaser for an upcoming segment, that "the U.N. says the planet may actually cool off for the 10th year in a row." Hill later asserted: "U.N. meteorologists now saying that we could have, for the 10th year in a row, a colder year, temperatures ... decreasing, not warming, getting colder." In fact, global mean temperatures, as measured in two widely used data sets, have not decreased in each of the past 10 years; further, according to those data sets' producers, the data continue to show a long-term warming trend.
<em>NY Times</em> understated Inhofe's views on global warming
In an article discussing potentially competitive 2008 Senate elections, <em>The New York Times</em> understated Sen. James Infohe's views on global warming, reporting that Inhofe "has said that its effects are exaggerated." In fact, Inhofe has repeatedly referred to global warming as the "greatest hoax ever perpetrated on the American people" and reportedly compared Al Gore's global warming documentary to Adolf Hitler's <em>Mein Kampf</em>.
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