A total of 97 percent of the world’s water is undrinkable salt water. Desalination is possible but prohibitively expensive for some countries to consider serious investments. The United Nations estimates that by 2025 two-thirds of the world population will be living in water-stressed conditions, and 1.8 billion will be suffering from absolute water scarcity. Access to clean water is becoming an increasingly important issue that must be addressed directly and with force to avoid potential ramifications.

Increasing water scarcity is being brought on by a few different factors. Climate change is causing changes in weather patterns, which means irregularities in how water is naturally distributed and deviating from historical norms. Another important factor is the increasing global population. Feeding and providing for billions of more people is going to exacerbate the already precarious clean water supply situations in many places. The threatening implications of water scarcity are enough to have been included in the 2014 National Intelligence Strategy report which outlines what the intelligence community believes to be the biggest issues to pay attention to in the coming years.

The scarcity of resources is a common cause of conflict and water is no special case. Worsening conditions of water scarcity will have the potential to cause great social unrest. Between 24 and 700 million people may be displaced due to water scarcity in arid or semi-arid regions by 2030. Keeping in mind the effects climate change will have on displacing people by shorelines, and the number of displaced persons grows to huge quantities. Decreasing stability across water-scarce regions will sow the conditions for water wars.

Some believe that water wars have already begun. The Six-Day War between Israel and other Arab nations was believed to be in part due to issues with controlling the local water supply, and many believe the Middle East will likely suffer more conflicts over water in the future if the current predictions come to fruition.

Even the phenomenon of water refugees has already begun. In Sao Paulo, Brazil, the recent water crisis in the city of 20 million has begun to force some people to actually leave the city and move into the countryside to seek water stability.

Clean water shortages will have a huge impact on the poor. Water shortages can cause regional civil and social instability, food instability due to less water for agriculture and of course, the lack of drinking water necessary for life. All these potential side effects would directly perpetuate the cycle of poverty that already acts like an undertow from a wave of water. More attention must be paid toward methods to reduce water shortages, such as being more conservative with water use and thinking about investing heavily in water desalination plants across the world.

– Martin Yim

Sources: United Nations, Foreign Policy, BBC, NPR
Photo: Bloomberg