Page 426 - Environment: The Science Behind the Stories

Other experiences indicate that decentralization of con-
trol over water, from the national level to the local level, can
help conserve water. In Mexico, the effectiveness of irrigation
systems improved dramatically once they were transferred
from public ownership to the control of 386 local water user
associations.
Regardless of how demand is addressed, the shift from
supply-side to demand-side solutions is paying dividends. In
Europe, a new focus on demand (through government man-
dates and public education) has decreased public water con-
sumption, and industries are becoming more water-efficient.
The United States decreased its water consumption by 5%
from 1980 to 2005 thanks to conservation measures, even
while its population grew 31%.
Figure 15.20 Xeriscaping lets homeowners and businesses
reduce water consumption by landscaping with attractive,
drought-tolerant plants. Nations often cooperate to resolve
water disputes

of its extraction. Others worry that making water a fully priced We’ve seen that nations have unequal access to fresh water
commodity would make it less available to the world’s poor supplies, and there are fears that scarcity of this vital resource
and increase the gap between rich and poor. Because industrial can lead to conflict. For example, a 2012 report by the
use of water can be 70 times more profitable than agricultural Intelligence agencies of the U.S. government concluded that
use, market forces alone might favor uses that would benefit in the subsequent decade, many nations vital to U.S. inter-
wealthy and industrialized people, companies, and nations at ests will experience political and economic instability due to
the expense of the rural poor. water shortages, making freshwater supplies one of the great-
Similar concerns surround another potential solution, est threats to U.S. national security interests. Faced with such
the privatization of water supplies. During the 1990s, many instability, one recourse would be to commandeer the water
public water systems were partially or wholly privatized, as resources of other nations by force, sparking international
governments transferred construction, maintenance, manage- military conflict. Figure 15.21 shows some waterways for
ment, or ownership to private companies. This was done to which conflict is a concern in coming decades.
enhance efficiency, but firms have little incentive to allow A total of 261 major rivers (whose watersheds cover 45%
equitable access to water for rich and poor alike. Already in of the world’s land area) cross national borders, and trans-
some developing countries, rural residents without access to boundary disagreements are common. Water is already a key
public water supplies find themselves forced to buy water element in the hostilities among Israel, the Palestinian people,
from private vendors and pay 12 times more than those con- and neighboring nations. The United States has its share of
nected to public supplies. conflicts over water. The Colorado River’s water allocations

Aral sea
Ob Tumen
Kura- Han
Araks
Jordan Salween
Ganges-
Brahmaputra- CHAPTER 15 • Fr E shwat E r s yst E m s and rE sour CE s
Senegal Meghna
Lampa Nile Tigris/ Mekong
Lake Chad Euphrates

Kunene Zambezi
Potential conflicting interests
and/or lack of institutional La Plata Okavango Limpopo
capacity
Recent dispute; Orange Incomati
negotiations in progress
Other international basins

Figure 15.21 Water basins that cross national boundaries (yellow) have the potential for conflict
if water supplies become scarce. Basins with higher potential for conflict (red) are found in regions with
growing populations, but negotiations are underway on several international basins to prevent conflict (orange). 425

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