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<br />ater can be one cause of war -but
<br />a war cannot be sustained
<br />without water.
<br />A fighting force needs water. For
<br />example, maintaining an aircraft carrier
<br />far from the United States and in less
<br />hospitable surroundings is a major
<br />task. The carrier Kitty Hawk set sail
<br />from the United States, heading for the
<br />Gulf region, shortly after September 11,
<br />2001 to join the Enterprise already
<br />on station in the Arabian Sea and
<br />the carrier Theodore Roosevelt,
<br />just passing through the Suez
<br />Canal for Gulf duty. A New
<br />York Times news article
<br />reported that the Kitty Hawk
<br />carried a crew of 5,800 men
<br />and women, servicing 75
<br />fighter planes and many
<br />support aircraft.
<br />To sustain life aboard and
<br />accommodate the needs of the
<br />fighting force, the ship is distilling
<br />350,000 gallons of seawater daily,
<br />which provides about 60 gallons of
<br />water daily per person. This water is
<br />required for eating, drinking, sanitation,
<br />minimal showers, and all of the
<br />hundreds of daily usages of water on
<br />this fighting machine. Now, imagine
<br />the water volume needed by not only
<br />aircraft carriers, but also the hundreds
<br />of other ships, every day, every week,
<br />every month -and the total is
<br />astounding. Then, add to that the water
<br />used by the Army, Marines, Navy, Air
<br />Force, Merchant Marines, and the Coast
<br />Guard, wherever they are stationed, and
<br />clearly the importance of usable water
<br />proves to be fundamental to an all-out
<br />military effort.
<br />Wars are the result of conflicts, but
<br />thankfully all conflicts do not escalate
<br />into wars. Water has been the cause of
<br />innumerable conflicts because of its
<br />fundamental importance and because of
<br />the fact that water often knows no
<br />boundaries. Ownership of water is
<br />often unclear. Someday, water needs
<br />will take precedence over water
<br />ownership, and then the potential for
<br />war may escalate enormously.
<br />Conflicts are brewing all over the
<br />world, and as baseball hero Casey
<br />Stengal has said, "Making predictions is
<br />very difficult, especially about the
<br />future." But I predict major wars will
<br />erupt between nations over water -
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<br />who owns it and who has a right to it -
<br />because nothing can substitute for water.
<br />Conflicts, war, water importance,
<br />shortages, and all the rest were brought
<br />home to me when I visited Israel a few
<br />years ago as a guest of the State of Israel
<br />with full military clearance. I sat in a
<br />gun emplacement on the Golan Heights,
<br />overlooking and protecting the water of
<br />Lake Kenneret, historically known as
<br />the Sea of Galilee, the source of a
<br />majority of usable water for the entire
<br />State of Israel. The lake is fed by the
<br />River Jordan, its waters flowing from its
<br />watershed in Syria and Lebanon.
<br />Lake Kenneret serves as the western
<br />border between Israel and Jordan and
<br />waters flow out of the southern end of
<br />the lake as a continuation of the River
<br />Jordan, which ends its journey at the
<br />Dead Sea. Israel's largest water pipeline
<br />snakes its way from the Golan Heights
<br />carrying water to residents throughout
<br />most of the country. If this life -line
<br />from Lake Kenneret was ever severed a
<br />major war could break out.
<br />Malaysia supplies 50 percent of
<br />Singapore's water needs and has
<br />threatened to cut it off over a policy
<br />dispute. The Rio Grande River had
<br />stopped flowing into Mexico for the first
<br />time in recorded history because of the
<br />over use of water by the Americans to
<br />the north. Japan claims China's act of
<br />building the massive Three Gorges
<br />Dam, to impound the waters of the
<br />Yangtze and Yellow Rivers, will divert
<br />so much water away from the Sea of
<br />Japan, air temperature will be affected.
<br />The dam's eight years of construction
<br />may alter Japari s climate by allowing
<br />warmer and saltier waters from the
<br />deeps of the sea to rise to the surface.
<br />The Arab world is composed of 22
<br />countries, most water-deficient, with a
<br />combined population of 28 million. The
<br />Pacific Institute believes by 2015, the
<br />population will be 385 million and by
<br />2030, the total number of people living
<br />in the Arab world will be 514,000,000. A
<br />vast amount of usable water is and will
<br />be needed. Desalination of seawater is a
<br />partial answer, but such facilities and
<br />distribution systems are often prime
<br />targets for terrorism and war. During
<br />Operation Desert Storm in the early
<br />1990s, the Iraqis destroyed Kuwait's
<br />desalination facilities as they retreated.
<br />Billions of people worldwide are
<br />without usable water today, a situation I
<br />call "the 20th century's greatest failure".
<br />As our societies around the world work
<br />to cope with water quantity and quality,
<br />let's hope the many conflicts over water
<br />that are bound to arise do not escalate
<br />into more and more wars.
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<br />FACETS Winter 2002
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