The Biggest Threat to Water Security

That’s right; we are now talking about water security. Those words scare me—and they should scare you, too.

 

A recent article by environmental journalist Stephen Leahy calls attention to the issue of water shortages around the world citing the biggest threat as “neoliberal policies of the free market economic system laying waste to the natural world and turning water into a commodity” (Inter Press Service).

 

Areas expected to face the worst water shortages before 2030 include parts of Africa and Asia, including China, home to 1.3 billion people, and India, home to more than 1.2 billion people.  

 

Over two years ago I visited Mumbai and was annoyed that water was shut off around 4 pm. If you wanted to take a shower later than that, you needed to fill a bucket in your bathroom earlier in the day and then bathe with a dipper. At the time I viewed it as a major inconvenience. “How could people live this way?” I wondered.

 

Today the pressing issues about water involve how agriculture will sustain itself in coming years with the increased demand for water, privatization of water resources, water shortages, water security, and water wars. In other words, it won’t be long until you’re worrying about having enough water to drink and not whether you are allowed to take a shower, water your garden, or wash your car.

 

We need to be aware that water shortages will destabilize many parts of the world. We have already seen the number of deaths resulting from ethnic conflicts around the world; imagine what will happen when people are fighting over drinking water.

 

Leahy’s article cites details from the InterAction Council (IAC) report “Global Water Crisis: Addressing an Urgent Security Issue.” This is not a scare tactic, this is not liberal journalism: this is the coming reality.

 

Just in case you don’t want to believe the IAC report, you can check out the EPA website and download a poster on Drinking Water Security. And no, I am not kidding.

 

The biggest threat to water security may be the free market system and unregulated profiteers, but our complacence is also contributing to this growing concern. Please wake up and become a water activist.

 

 

Laissez-Faire Failing World’s Dwindling Water Resources by Stephen Leahy, IPS: http://www.ipsnews.net/2012/09/laissez-faire-failing-worlds-dwindling-water-resources/

 

Drinking Water Security Poster via United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA): http://cfpub.epa.gov/safewater/watersecurity/publications.cfm?sort=TITLE&view=doctype_results&document_type_id=620

 

The Water Front Activist Guide: http://www.bullfrogfilms.com/guides/wateractivistguide.pdf