Resource Wars

We're all familiar with the concept of fighting wars for natural resources. The U.S. has been accused - and at least partially correctly in my mind - of invading Iraq to secure cheap oil supplies. Wars have been fought across Africa and largely supported by so called blood diamonds. In the 16th century Eurpoean powers set out around the globe in search of riches.

What we don't think about, at least not here in the U.S., is fighting over something so basic as water. Yet, we will see wars in the world as people try to procure one of the basic necessities of life. The Middle East already a hot bed of militancy will be one of the first to experience the problem.

But, even here in the U.S. we are having problems. Oh, I don't predict any violence over the issue but expect there to be vast amounts of litigation as growing populations in arid areas demand their "right to water."

This report on the current droughts in the Southeast and Southwest have some eye opening facts.

• "The New York Times reports that "Lake Mead, the enormous reservoir in Arizona and Nevada that supplies nearly all the water for Las Vegas, is half-empty, and statistical models indicate that it will never be full again.""
  
• An even more deeply embedded problem for western states is that the first measurements of the Colorado River were taken in the 1920s, which was an exceptionally wet series of years. As a result, the river was misjudged to have a significantly more generous average flow than it truly has, creating unachievable shares of water for the seven states that signed a legal agreement in the 1922 that divided rights to certain amounts of water.
  
• The average American citizen uses about 100 gallons of water each day
  
• Europeans consume about 53 gallons daily.
  
• Nuclear plants use 830 gallons of water per megawatt hour
  
• Coal power plants use 750 gallons of water per megawatt hour
  
• If current power generation and energy demand trends continue, power plants will use 7.3 billion gallons a day by 2030. The Department of Energy reports that this equals all U.S. water consumption a decade ago.