The Water Wars Cometh (Charles Pierce Esquire)
The Water Wars Cometh (Esquire)
Nearly a quarter of humanity faces looming crises of water access.
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BY CHARLES P. PIERCE
AUG 6, 2019
This shebeen has been saying since it opened that the next world war is going to be fought not over oil or mineral wealth, but over water. Some countries are going to have it. Some are not. ...Comes now the World Resources Institute to tell us how completely freaking dire the situation already is. From The New York Times:
From India to Iran to Botswana, 17 countries around the world are currently under extremely high water stress, meaning they are using almost all the water they have, according to new World Resources Institute data published Tuesday. Many are arid countries to begin with; some are squandering what water they have. Several are relying too heavily on groundwater, which instead they should be replenishing and saving for times of drought. In those countries are several big, thirsty cities that have faced acute shortages recently, including São Paulo, Brazil; Chennai, India; and Cape Town, which in 2018 narrowly beat what it called Day Zero — the day when all its dams would be dry.
The places under extremely high water stress happen to be where a quarter of humanity presently lives. That's a helluva lot of thirsty people. And, of course, the Chinese Climate Hoaxsters are meddling in this situation.
Climate change heightens the risk. As rainfall becomes more erratic, the water supply becomes less reliable. At the same time, as the days grow hotter, more water evaporates from reservoirs just as demand for water increases. Water-stressed places are sometimes cursed by two extremes. São Paulo was ravaged by floods a year after its taps nearly ran dry. Chennai suffered fatal floods four years ago, and now its reservoirs are almost empty.
https://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/a28623060/quarter-of-humans-high-water-stress-report/
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