Water: The New Fluid Gold?

The tendency to fight for natural resources is on the rise in various parts of the globe. It is a well-known truth that countless nations have set their eyes in oil fields across the uncharted regions. Unfortunately, while certain countries are eyeing on the oil resources, the rest of the pack is fighting over water. The notion might seem like a foolish expedition since three fourths of the globe is covered by vast oceans. Yet, the number of nations losing access to clean water sources is rising dramatically. Certain snippets that had occurred previously - minor altercations that could have led to warfare - is outlined in the succeeding sections.

Here is an interesting situation - yes, terrorists are included in this scenario. Back in 2008, certain terrorists had threatened to blow up the major dams across India. Power generation is still at its infancy in this country, and they are still lagging behind with hydroelectric power plants. The dams store water, which is used later to generate electrical power. Imagine the destruction that could have caused in the country if these terrorists had taken their plans to the next levels!

Two countries that occupy news headlines (over water disputes) are China and Tibet. You might not be aware of the fact that Tibet is also known as the water storehouse of the planet. The country has access to various types of potable water sources. The Chinese is finding it difficult to provide the many millions of citizens with clean water. Therefore, they thought it would be wiser to threaten the neighboring countries and Tibet had to experience a political crackdown from China. Did you know that 10 major rivers originate and (or) flow through Tibet?

Nigeria is another location where disputes over access to clean water sources are quite common. This time, the country had to experience stiff problems from the inhabitants. Independent "water vendors" supply water to the majority of the Nigerian population. They charge a fixed price for the water. Minor disputes paved the way to complex problems and within hours, the entire population was fighting against each other for water. A few numbers of these vendors also were manhandled by the angry mob.

Trouble had brewed in Canada too sometime back. A certain someone, who boasted of a glorious criminal background, tampered with the bottled waters. According to sources, this man had connections with several leading terrorist organizations. Luckily, no one was injured in the process - the tampered bottles of water were seized; so was the man responsible for the act.

Quite recently, Afghanistan also experienced something similar (as mentioned in the second passage). Terrorists (they seem to have an affinity towards dams) had threatened to blow up certain important dams in the country. In this case, NATO forces had to combat with these terrorists. Even on this day, it is rumored that the same group is still causing headaches to the government.

There are countless incidences like these; dating back even to 3000BC - listing all of them is beyond the scope of this brief article. So yes, water is turning into a pilar of our financial system...







   
We're a collective of young students, scientists and business people interested in raising awareness for the challenges our water industry stands to face in this and the coming twenty decades. We're concerned, and think you should be so too!

The world needs water to run. Let's do it proud!