•Lesson 12:

More Bad
News:
Polluted
Water
Aquifers &
Food Scarcity
•Divided on the surface by political
borders), most Middle East countries are
joined by common aquifers –
underground layers of porous rock that
contain water.
•Shallow aquifers can be refilled by rain,
but deep aquifers cannot quickly be
replenished..
Above ground,
pipelines carry
water within
countries; no
transnational
pipeline is now
in operation.
In the Gaza
Strip, 95% of
the water is
not fit for
human
consumption.
Water Scarcity:
Solutions?
This picture is of a
proposal to build a
250-mile long pipeline
that will draw water
from Colorado to the
rest of the United
States.
The proposed cost is
$3 billion U.S. dollars.
Water Basins and
Conflict
There are
currently 263
transboundary
water basins
around the
world
•Experience shows
that the presence of
water on an
international border
is more likely to
provide a catalyst for
cooperation than
conflict between the
countries that
depend on it.
•Researchers at the
University of Oregon
have compiled a
Transboundary
Freshwater Dispute
Database.
In examining the cases
generally considered to be
examples of international
water conflict, they have
arrived at a surprising
conclusion: Instead of fighting,
countries that share water
resources tend to maintain
dialogue and negotiation
leading to treaties for joint
management of water.
The Great Lakes are a water basin
Water Scarcity and Canada: Will there be wars over
Canadian water? Will Canada and US go to war?

Canada has 240,000

kilometers of
coastline, the most of
any country in the
world
Water Scarcity and Canada: Will there be wars over
Canadian water? Will Canada and US go to war?

7.6% of Canada is covered in fresh water

Only 0.3% of Canada is covered by urban areas

Only 6.6% of Canada is covered by agricultural lands

Water Scarcity and Canada: Will there be wars over
Canadian water? Will Canada and US go to war?

Canada has 17,500 About fifty percent of the total

cubic kilometers of world’s lakes are to be found
fresh water and 2 in Canada. There are around 2
million lakes million lakes in Canada.
Could Canada be pressured to
sell its fresh water overseas and
to Americans?
•Canada could come under
increasing pressure to sell water
to the U.S., with potentially
serious environmental
consequences.
Could the United States leach water out
of Lake Michigan?
"Selling water might be the most
optimistic scenario. If they take
water out of Lake Michigan, they
don't have to buy it from us. Taking it
from Lake Michigan affects the
discharge in the entire Great Lakes
system; if it's coming out of the
upper end, it's not coming out of our
end."
•In addition, because the U.S. owns Lake
Michigan outright, we can only negotiate
water practices on Lake Michigan through
the International Joint Commission and
Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement, a
trans-border political body which has no
power. If the U.S. takes a hard line and
insists on growing high water-demanding
crops in what is essentially a desert, then
this is an issue they may have to
adjudicate on someday soon.
Lesson 12: More Bad News: Polluted
Water Aquifers & Food Scarcity
Today = nearly 1
billion “hungry”
people around the
world
Lesson 12: More Bad News: Polluted
Water Aquifers & Food Scarcity

60 percent of the
world’s “hungry”
people are
women
Malnutrition causes
1 million children to
go blind every year

Famine:
consequence of
war and cause of
conflict
Where are world’s
famines?