WJPBR Email News List [EMAIL PROTECTED] Peace at any cost is a Prelude to War! Canada could be the Saudi Arabia of 2025 due to our wealth of water in a thirsty world ALANNA MITCHELL The Globe and Mail Saturday, August 5, 2000 Toronto -- A three part series on the poisoning and waste threatening water, the life blood of the earth Scientists predict Canada could be a water superpower within 25 years when it becomes one of the few countries in the world with enough fresh water. Evidence collected at leading international research institutes shows that the world's store of fresh water could run dry faster than expected. Because of that, and because Canada is home to roughly 40 per cent of the Earth's store of fresh water, experts say that Canada could become the Saudi Arabia of water. "Water could become an export commodity like oil," said Kevin Hall, the scientific director of the Centre for Water and the Environment at Queen's University in Kingston, Ont. "There's no doubt people are going to be short of water and they're going to be looking at us," he added. John Briscoe, senior water adviser at the World Bank, is blunt when he describes the looming water shortage: Unless people learn to use water more efficiently, there won't be enough fresh water to sustain the Earth's population. "If nothing happens, the situation is really quite terrifying," he said in an interview from Washington. "Without innovation, you're dead." But Mr. Briscoe also believes that solutions exist, if society takes the problem seriously. The coming water crisis is partly driven by population growth. But even more, it stems from a spirited overuse of the Earth's fresh water for agriculture, industry and all sorts of uses that turn good water bad. It is not even about having safe water to drink, but about having enough to go around. Numbers abound about how dire the shortage will be. The Sri Lanka- based International Water Management Institute projected earlier this year that by 2025, only about a quarter of the world's population, including Canada, with its rivers, lakes and aquifers, will have enough fresh water. Roughly a third of the world's population will have too little water to meet their needs. That includes people in Pakistan, Syria, Egypt, Israel, South Africa and half of India and China. This figure even takes into account that these countries will learn to use water more efficiently over time. As well, about 40 per cent of the world's people will experience serious financial and development problems in their quest to find the increased amounts of water required. Among those countries are Brazil, Mexico, Australia, Nigeria and Turkey, as well as large parts of India and China. In fact, even those frightening projections may underestimate the problem, said Jim Bruce, the vice-chairman of the Winnipeg-based International Institute for Sustainable Development and a world expert on water. Most scenarios don't take into account the effects of global warming on the amount of fresh water the Earth holds, he said. When that's taken into account, even such water-rich countries as the United States and Canada may be in for some trouble. "I think we're going to have to do some fast footwork on the prairies if the models are correct," Mr. Bruce said. >From the point of view of the World Bank's Dr. Briscoe, a big part of the solution is to make the cost of water reflect its value. Now, people use it virtually for free. "It's really not managed in any vaguely scientific way because it's so cheap," he said. "People just pour it on." He added that water is also bound to become more expensive. "Once you get market forces operating, efficiency will come," Dr. Briscoe said. Canadians, for example, are among the most nonchalant users of water in the world. The average Canadian household uses about 500,000 litres a year, but almost half is wasted in washing cars or leaving taps to drip, Dr. Hall said. The average daily domestic use in Canada is 326 litres per person. In France, by contrast, it's less than half of that at 150 litres. Mr. Bruce, the Canadian water expert, noted that most parts of Canada don't even put meters on domestic water use. "There are all sorts of signals in the marketplace that water is not important," he said. "So we use it very profligately." Governments are just as unthinking about fresh-water supplies. The report last week from Ontario's Environmental Commissioner on the state of Ontario's groundwater was damning. Canada's most populous province has no strategy to protect groundwater, no publicly accessible inventory of it and no long-term method of determining the effects of groundwater use on the health of the ecosystem. The experts agree that these attitudes toward water must change. In fact, they can already see signs that people are recognizing the value of water. Consider, for a moment, that a 500-millilitre bottle of spring water sells at a corner store these days for about three times that of the same amount of gasoline at the pump down the street. "If and when fresh water becomes a price commodity, then it immediately becomes a security issue," said Rob Huebert, a political scientist at the University of Calgary and an expert in military issues. "Look at the security we have to have over pipelines for oil and gas." One scenario that he has been mulling over is what would happen if critical areas of the United States grew massively short of fresh water. Say, the croplands of California, or the City of Los Angeles. What would a U.S. president, say an Al Gore or a George Bush, do if Americans started panicking about fresh water and Canada had an abundance of it? In Dr. Huebert's view, there could be trouble. "It won't be a Richard Rohmer scenario of Americans invading Canada," he said. "But maybe they would go to NAFTA [North American Free Trade Agreement]." All of these possibilities are so new that it's not yet clear whether Canada would play hardball and opt to sell its water for profit or portion it out for free as a humanitarian gesture, Dr. Hall said. In either case, however, water, or the lack of it, is likely to prove a catalyst for conflict. And Canada, sitting with its vast supplies just north of the current world power, will be at the centre of the storm. "People have to have water," Dr. Hall said. "It's not like gas. You don't need gas to live." Still, Dr. Briscoe is not convinced that Canada will become a water exporter to the world. Nor is Mr. Bruce, the Canadian water expert, although he can see that parts of the United States might clamour for Canada's water. "I think the idea of carrying water around in tankers borders on the ridiculous," Mr. Bruce said. He pins his hopes on farmers beginning to use irrigation more strategically. He foresees some irrigated farms achieving an industrial-style efficiency rather than the haphazard methods now used in many places. As well, Dr. Briscoe believes that genetically modified plants, bred to require fewer pesticides and dramatically less water, may well be one of the solutions. He would rather see a less expensive solution for water-poor countries such as investment in technology to take the salt out of ocean water. Then again, there may be other solutions just over the horizon that haven't occurred to anyone yet. "You can quite reasonably say that we've only just started scratching the surface of what we can do in terms of innovation with water," Dr. Briscoe said. *COPYRIGHT NOTICE** In accordance with Title 17 U. S. C. Section 107, any copyrighted work in this message is distributed under fair use without profit or payment to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for nonprofit research and educational purposes only.[Ref. http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml ] Want to be on our lists? Write at [EMAIL PROTECTED] for a menu of our lists! ****************************************************************************** ******************* A vote for Bush or Gore is a vote to continue Clinton policies! A vote for Buchanan is a vote to continue America! Therefore a vote for Gore or Bush is a wasted vote for America! Don't waste your vote! Vote for Patrick Buchanan! Today, candor compels us to admit that our vaunted two-party system is a snare and a delusion, a fraud upon the nation. Our two parties have become nothing but two wings of the same bird of prey... Patrick Buchanan <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/">www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substance—not soap-boxing—please! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'—with its many half-truths, mis- directions and outright frauds—is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. ======================================================================== Archives Available at: http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html <A HREF="http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html">Archives of [EMAIL PROTECTED]</A> http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ <A HREF="http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/">ctrl</A> ======================================================================== To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Om
