U.S. intelligence: Future shortages will lead to ‘water as a weapon’
35 replies, posted
[quote]
The world may see the failure of key states and even regional wars dotting the globe, all over one thing that’s seemingly ubiquitous today in most industrialized societies: water.
[URL="http://www.dni.gov/nic/ICA_Global%20Water%20Security.pdf"]A report[/URL] (PDF) by the U.S. Director of National Intelligence, released Thursday but originally prepared for U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in early February, paints a grim picture of the potential for chaos as demand for clean water begins to outstrip supply. It adds that there is hope for poorer nations that will be hit the hardest by growing water scarcity, but only if technology and rapid efficiency gains rise to meet the challenge.
While the report’s most ominous predictions are not likely to happen any time in the next 10 years, by 2040 the U.S. intelligence director foresees “problems” that will “hinder the ability of key countries to produce food and generate energy, posing a risk to global food markets and hobbling economic growth.”
The intelligence estimate points to several key regions that will face these challenges first: “North Africa, the Middle East, and South Asia.” Even today, over 884 million people, mainly situated in these regions, struggle for or simply go without access to clean water, and it will get worse.
“Historically, water tensions have led to more water-sharing agreements than violent conflicts,” the report continues. “However, we judge that as water shortages become more acute beyond the next 10 years, water in shared basins will increasingly be used as leverage; the use of water as a weapon or to further terrorist objectives also will become more likely beyond 10 years.”
Some states with greater economic capacity than their neighbors could even begin to see waterways as leverage against other regional powers, they warn, and could start damming rivers to prevent rivals downstream from accessing them. “Water will also be used within states to pressure populations and suppress separatist elements,” the report adds.
But it’s not entirely bleak for the human race: although the great potential for water wars exists, water is such a crucial element to all human life that the intelligence estimate also sees it as a potential tool for waging peace.
They cite two wars between India and Pakistan, both of which could not manage to destroy the cooperatively operated Indus River Commission; the Mekong Committee that united Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam in the late 50s and continued its waterway management efforts even through the Vietnam War; and secret talks about the Jordan River between Israel and Jordan in the early 50s, at the outset of the two nations’ long war that ended in 1994.
“In some cases, joint water governance has created cooperation on broader issues,” the report notes. “Water can serve as a potential entry point for peace and support sustainable cooperation among nations.”
It goes on to say that because agriculture takes up approximately 70 percent of humanity’s clean water supply, technologies that increase water efficiency without negatively impacting food production will play a key role in mitigating the potential for crisis. Better water management strategies in general, they add, are in the interest of all nations.[/quote]
[url]http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/03/23/u-s-intelligence-future-shortages-will-lead-to-water-as-a-weapon/[/url]
I was thinking of supersoakers and squirt guns propelling water at a few machs :(
[QUOTE=Twistshock;35259507]I was thinking of supersoakers and squirt guns propelling water at a few machs :([/QUOTE]
You mean something like this?
[img]http://i483.photobucket.com/albums/rr193/FoxDieInjection/PlayStation%20Portable%20Wallpapers/Metal%20Gear%20Solid/MetalGearRay.jpg[/img]
Shoot water at ultra high speeds.
Desalination should be priority, such as Saudi Arabia is doing. If Global Warming is actually in effect, we might as well Desalinate while we lower CO2 emissions.
Desalination is purifying salt water.
We should really focus on technology that turns sea water into drinking water, it exists but I've heard that it's expensive as shit to do in large scale.
[QUOTE=Ogopogo;35259549]You mean something like this?
[img]http://i483.photobucket.com/albums/rr193/FoxDieInjection/PlayStation%20Portable%20Wallpapers/Metal%20Gear%20Solid/MetalGearRay.jpg[/img][/QUOTE]
what does this have to do with what he said
[QUOTE=NightmareXx;35259577]what does this have to do with what he said[/QUOTE]
One of its main weapons is a high powered water cannon.
We can already de-salinate ocean water. It just needs to be made more efficient -- that will definitely lessen our worries.
COD expansion pack water pistol fights acog scope lazer pointer
[QUOTE=Tigster;35259981]360 noscope supersoak[/QUOTE]
Our water balloon missile is online!
Doubt it. We are already making drinkable water from sea water so...
We can curb our water usage by making changes to our life styles and the way we use water industrially and agriculturally.
I just want to go ahead and point out that the urine recyclers NASA uses on the International Space Station apparently makes water that tastes DELICIOUS.
So there's one solution.
[QUOTE=Funcoot;35260238]We can curb our water usage by making changes to our life styles and the way we use water industrially and agriculturally.[/QUOTE]
personally i do this
whenever i think "i should take a shower" i wait one more day (unless special circumstances)
installing a few devices around your faucets (i don't know how they're called in english sorry) also makes it look like there's as much water that's being used, but in reality it's like half of that, there's just air in between — makes it more efficient for washing dishes (by hand, that is) and, well, showers
i can't english today, sorry
[QUOTE=Funcoot;35260238]We can curb our water usage by making changes to our life styles and the way we use water industrially and agriculturally.[/QUOTE]
Thank you Captain Obvious.
[QUOTE=Adarrek;35260123]Doubt it. We are already making drinkable water from sea water so...[/QUOTE]
I'm sure you know better than the combined efforts of the US intelligence community.
[QUOTE=MaxOfS2D;35260341]personally i do this
whenever i think "i should take a shower" i wait one more day (unless special circumstances)
installing a few devices around your faucets (i don't know how they're called in english sorry) also makes it look like there's as much water that's being used, but in reality it's like half of that, there's just air in between — makes it more efficient for washing dishes (by hand, that is) and, well, showers
i can't english today, sorry[/QUOTE]
What part of 70% of all fresh water is used for agriculture don't you understand? Your efforts are a (pardon the pun) drop in the ocean.
Don't do it U.S., look what happened to Canada
[img]http://filesmelt.com/dl/civil_unrest.jpg[/img]
The...bastards opened fire on the crowds.
Do you want to follow the same [B]horrible[/B] path they did.
I have never understood how there can be water shortages. Water is impossible to destroy, there is always the same amount of it on earth no matter what. Are certain areas just getting dryer?
This applies to areas that had water to begin with, not desert countries.
I live by the Great Lakes so I won't have a problem.
[QUOTE=Scot;35261425]I have never understood how there can be water shortages. Water is impossible to destroy, there is always the same amount of it on earth no matter what. Are certain areas just getting dryer?
This applies to areas that had water to begin with, not desert countries.[/QUOTE]
You may not have noticed, but the report mostly specified dry regions like the Middle East.
Simple, put water collectors on the banks of the Mississippi River, so every time it floods the water gets dumped back into the underground aquifers. That water just runs into the Gulf of Mexico anyway, we might as well do something with it.
[QUOTE=King Tiger;35261461]I live by the Great Lakes so I won't have a problem.[/QUOTE]
There is some sort of diversion up by Niagara Falls, the Great Lakes are slowly draining. Around where I live, there are docks that are completely landlocked because of the water receding.
[QUOTE=Ardosos;35261524]There is some sort of diversion up by Niagara falls, the Great Lakes are slowly draining. Around where I live, there are docks that are completely landlocked because of the water receding.[/QUOTE]
Holy shit.
Where do you live?
[QUOTE=King Tiger;35261548]Holy shit.
Where do you live?[/QUOTE]
Milwaukee, Wisconsin. It's like that in Door County as well, though.
Why not Water Pipelines? It works for Oil.
Oh, and obligatory water weapon;
[img]http://cdn.theatlantic.com/static/infocus/chileprotest081011/c08_52104218.jpg[/img]
Surely we just need a giant hole in the ocean that acts as an overflow, and it could use geothermal energy from the earth's mantle to power the desalination process.
Hook it up to a load of pipelines and you can transport water everywhere and you solve the global warming sea rising problem.
[QUOTE=minilandstan;35261264]Don't do it U.S., look what happened to Canada
[img]http://filesmelt.com/dl/civil_unrest.jpg[/img]
The...bastards opened fire on the crowds.
Do you want to follow the same [B]horrible[/B] path they did.[/QUOTE]
Police brutality.
I'm so glad I live in a country with huge amounts of clean, tasty water right now.
Rise of the Canadian Overlords.
[QUOTE=minilandstan;35261264]Don't do it U.S., look what happened to Canada
[img]http://filesmelt.com/dl/civil_unrest.jpg[/img]
The...bastards opened fire on the crowds.
Do you want to follow the same [B]horrible[/B] path they did.[/QUOTE]
If a cop in the US got supersoaked, he'd probably get pissed and shout at the guy and (if they were one of those jumpy idiots) might even give the person an infraction of sorts.
So props to Canadian police for having a sense of humor.
Sorry, you need to Log In to post a reply to this thread.
