Do you think its true that the next world war will actually be over natural water reserves?

Question

I watched an interesting documentary on this last night. Fairly unbiased, and it seems likely that in the next 100 years we will all be at war over water. What's your take on this?

Answer 1

Disputes over water are already happening.

http://www.american.edu/ted/ice/tigris.htm
http://www.hinduonnet.com/2003/07/14/stories/2003071400521005.htm
http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/jan2006/2006-01-19-04.asp
http://www.worldwater.org/chronology.html

Answer 2

Water reserves as well as Oil and Gas actually!

The next world war would be on Oil and Gas reserves if India and China with their rapidly developing economies don't find alternative fuels (that's a scary thought coz I'm Indian and my girlfriend is Chinese) - scarcity has always led to confrontations. Oil and Gas companies in both countries are already fighting over land basins in the Caspian Sea and Iran (countries like Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan) as well as Sudan, Morocco, Libya - not to mention Developed countries that have their presence in these areas!

Think of it this way, the United States is the largest consumer of petroleum and if both China and India (which is less developed in comparison to China) have to attain the same living standards as the West by say 2050, what an enornmous burden it would prove to the planet - it could be if not a War, but at least a severe ecological disaster.

Answer 3

I think the next world war will be over who came up with the All American Apple Pie.

Was it the French? The Dutch? or Americans?

Dun dun dun.


Seriously. What a stupid documentary. Yes, water is hard to get in SOME places. But, we can convert salt water into drinkable water now and they are advancing pretty quickly to make it efficient. Right now it's extremely inefficient, but it's getting better.

But guess what? Those places that have enough water have enough water. A soldier can't fight if he's dehydrated.

Answer 4

it isn't likely. seventy 5% of the Earth's floor is water and the technologies has existed for decades to desalinate it and make it drinkable. Water would change into intense priced (to pay for desalination flora) yet we won't be able to in any respect run out.

Answer 5

Burnt out former Australian policeman Max Rockatansky, now known as "The Road Warrior" searching for sources of fuel, stumbles upon a gasoline refinery home to a community of survivors who are struggling for survival and finds the community is being terrorized by a band of brutal motorcyclists led by The Humangus and his finest warrior, Wez, who bid to loot all the gasoline from the refinery for themselves.

Answer 6

No, water is always recycled, not like oil which is consumed. Water is replenished by the earth daily, oil is not. At least that is what my science teacher told me. SMILE. There is the same amount of water on the earth today as there was 100 years ago.

Answer 7

no water you die, it will certainly be a security issue if it doesn't lead to out and out war, much infighting and clamping down on weaker nations. security issues within between those who can afford water and those who will do anything to get it.

in the past blocking off rivers and polluting them has caused problems with people downstream who will come up to stop this.

Answer 8

Are you saying that the US is going to invade Canada to get our fresh water?

I really can't see that being a basis for war.

Answer 9

Absolutely.

The middle east already trades oil for tankers full of water from the Great Lakes.

Potable water is the only resource that counts. It cannot be replaced by an 'alternate' source of any kind.

Answer 10

no..maybe not the next one and it depends on how many are killed off in the next one...but it is a possibilty that a war will be fought on a semi global scale over water...too many folks and not enough fresh water is a bad combination...