How water contributes to growing inequalities and conflict

The global demand for water is growing while freshwater availability is shrinking. Worldwide water usage has grown, a growing amount of water is withdrawn in agriculture, industry and by people withdrawing water for direct use. Water scarcity is a relative concept. This concept is influenced by two factors, firstly by the demand for water and secondly by the quality of the available water. Climate change is making the concept of water scarcity worse, the impacts of a changing climate are making water and the availability of it more unpredictable. I’ve asked myself the following questions: who will be the victims of the growing freshwater problem, how will it influence our social life and do we need to worry about major conflicts due to water crises? I will discuss these questions in this blog.

The people who bill be hit first and the hardest are the people already experiencing problems getting enough water now. These people are mainly located in sub-Saharan Africa. Due to rising prices because of a higher demand on fresh water these people will not be able to buy water. Besides that, climate change or pollution can result in that the water which they can collect from natural sources is not safe anymore. A report on safe drinking water and how it affects children, published by UNICEF prior to the 2023 UN water conference, discusses how unsafe drinking water is a growing threat to children around the world. This report estimates that 600 million children around the world lack safely managed drinking water. Safe drinking water is also closely linked to sanitation and hygiene. These three combined together form WASH. The report written by UNICEF also presents numbers on how ‘the triple threat’ (disease, climate change and WASH) is affecting 190 million children in sub-Saharan Africa. This report only discusses how children are affected, imagine the vast amount of people affected by (unsafe) fresh water supply if the whole population is taken in account. To give an answer to the question on who the victims of the growing freshwater problems will be, the poor people facing problems regarding water already today will be most affected.

Now that we know that poor and marginalized groups are on the frontline of any water scarcity crisis, we can discuss how this will influence their social life and communal interaction. Looking at households and families in developing countries, a water scarcity crisis will impact their ability to maintain good health, protect their families (from social conflicts) and earn a living. For many women and girls, water scarcity also means that the time and labour used to collect water increases, putting them at increased risk of exclusion from education and work. On a communal level water scarcity will also cause problems and conflicts. Research conducted by Döring (2020) underlines that lacking access to groundwater (being the type of water most rural households rely on) is associated with a higher risk of communal violence. One concrete example of this is that Turkana and Pokot groups (two ethnic communities in northwestern Kenya) have clashed multiple times around boreholes during drought periods. All in all, water shortage will influence social interactions in households and in communities around the world as freshwater supplies shrink.

Water as a spark to major conflicts causing the world to burst into flames is also a scenario which we must bear in mind. In an interview conducted by the BBC with Peter Gleick, he presents that water can play different roles in a conflict. Firstly, water can be seen as a ‘trigger’ of conflict, secondly discords on who has control over or access to water can cause violence and thirdly water can be used a weapon of war. As the demand for freshwater grows, so too does the scale of potential conflicts. One evident example of this can be found at the Tigris-Euphrates Basin involving Turkey, Syria, Iraq and western Iran. Losing groundwater is an immense problem in this region. During a heatwave in June 2019 Turkey said it would begin filling the ‘its Ilisu dam’ at the origin of the Tigris. As the water levels behind the dam were rising the flow from the river to Iraq, who is situated further downstream, halved. Not only did the amount of water halve but also the quality of the water plummeted, causing outbreaks of stomach flu and even cholera to spread in Basra (Iraq). This could’ve been the spark to a major conflict. As rivers and water resources are not border bound cases like the one presented may occur more often in the future. In short, (the lack of) water may contribute to major conflicts arising in the near future.

These three implications can be minimalized or tackled through changing the way we use water. Several options that will contribute to minimizing the risk of water crises are:

- Water should be treated as a scarce resource. The IWRM (integrated water resource management) provides a framework for governments on how to align water usage.

- Control water stress and use data technology and different communication strategies to deal with the problem if the water stress is too high.

- Exploring, protecting and sustainably use the ground water supplies that are available.

- Try to reduce the water usage of agriculture by using water efficient irrigation systems such as drip irrigation systems.

- Schooling farmers on how they can adapt to climate change for example by teaching them on cultivating different crops which are more drought resistant.

What do you think are other measures that could be taken to prevent or minimalize water scarcity?

Sources:

- Döring, S. (2020). Come rain, or come wells: How access to groundwater affects communal violence. Political Geography, 76, 102073. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.polgeo.2019.102073

- Milne, S. (2022, 3 mei). How water shortages are brewing wars. BBC Future. https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20210816-how-water-shortages-are-brewing-wars

- Ritchie, H. (2017, 20 november). Water Use and Stress. Our World in Data. https://ourworldindata.org/water-use-stress#:~:text=Globally%2C%2070%20percent%20of%20freshwater%20withdrawals%20are%20used%20for%20agriculture

- UN. (z.d.). Water Scarcity | UN-Water. UN-Water. https://www.unwater.org/water-facts/water-scarcity

- UNICEF. (2023). Triple threat. In https://www.unicef.org/. Geraadpleegd op 21 maart 2023, van https://www.unicef.org/reports/triple-threat-wash-disease-climate