Water policy by country
OECD countries
With nearly 2 cubic meters (528.3 galAm) of water used per person per year, the United States leads the world in per capita water consumption. Among developed OECD countries, the US consumes the most water, followed by Canada with 1.6 cubic meters (422.7 galAm) of water per person per year, which is approximately double the amount of water used by the average person in France, three times more than the average in Germany, and almost eight times more than the average in Denmark. A 2001 report from the University of Victoria states that since 1980, total water consumption in Canada has increased by 25.7%. This is five times faster than the OECD global increase of 4.5%. In contrast, nine OECD countries have managed to reduce their total water consumption since 1980 (Sweden, the Netherlands, the United States, the United Kingdom, the Czech Republic, Luxembourg, Poland, Finland and Denmark).[24][25].
India
The Ganges is disputed between India and Bangladesh. Water reserves are rapidly being depleted and polluted, while the Gangotri glacier that feeds the river retreats hundreds of meters each year[26] (experts blame climate change[27]) and deforestation in the Himalayas is causing subsoil streams that flow into the Ganges River to dry up. Downstream, India controls the flow into Bangladesh with the 6-mile (10-kilometer) Farakka Dam on the Indian side of the border. Until the late 1990s, India used the dam to divert the river towards Calcutta, to prevent the city's port from drying up during the dry season. This deprived Bangladeshi farmers of water and silt, and left the Sundarbans and mangroves in the river delta. The two countries have signed an agreement to share water more equitably. However, water quality remains a problem, with high levels of arsenic and untreated sewage in the river water.[27].
Recently, India has started building the Kishanganga Dam, thereby depriving Pakistan of its 33% water from the Jehlum River. Pakistan is building the same type of dam called Neelum Jehlum Dam. After the Indo-Pak Treaty of 1960, the Ravi and Sutleg rivers belong to India, while the Jehlum, Chenab and Indus belong to Pakistan. But discontent continues to grow in Pakistan over sharing its water with India.
Mexico
Mexico has experienced significant problems in preventing water contamination and pollution and in distributing clean water to homes and businesses. As society has evolved and urbanization, economic growth and increased trade have occurred, the demand for clean water has increased.[28] However, pollution associated with economic growth and industrialization, combined with the arid climate, has restricted access to drinking water for many homes and businesses. The already arid climate is susceptible to drought with increasing problems related to climate change, which can make access to water even more difficult.[29].
Mexico depends on groundwater for its water supply, which has caused significant exploitation of aquifers and, therefore, an increase in the costs of accessing water.[28] Mexico City is the largest city and urban center with a very high demand for drinking water. The water supply provided by the “Mexico City Water System” (SCAMEX) is only 98% efficient, leaving some 48,000 homes in the city alone without water.[30] However, even those who have access to city-supplied water remain dissatisfied. Even those already connected to SCAMEX experience problems due to water loss and poor water quality.[30] In Mexico City, an estimated 40% of the city's water is lost through leaky pipes built at the turn of the century. According to the results of a 2011 survey, up to 87% of Mexico City households would prefer to access water used for cooking and drinking through sources other than the tap. Alternative ways to access water include purchasing bottled water or filtration devices, or boiling water before drinking it. The problem is that these alternative measures are usually significantly more expensive than using supplied water.[30].
Middle East
In the Middle East, water is an important strategic resource and political issue. By 2025, countries on the Arabian Peninsula are expected to use more than double the amount of water they have naturally available.[31] According to an Arab League report, two-thirds of Arab countries have less than 1 cubic meter (264.2 galAm) of water per person per year, which is considered the limit.[32].
Water policy is not an emerging field within the discourse of international relations, nor an insignificant force compared to other political pressures, such as those of critical infrastructure (for example, oil for the United States), or that of strategic geopolitical control (for example, control of the Suez Canal or the Persian Gulf). In the context of the Middle East, with a multitude of existing national, subnational, ideological, ethnic, religious and pan-national tensions, conflicts and associations, water politics is considered to have already played an important role in the tensions between Iraq, Syria and Turkey in 1990, when Turkey initiated the Southeast Anatolia Project (also known as GAP) to dam sections of the Euphrates and Tigris rivers north of the Syrian-Turkish border. Finding themselves without control of their waterways, Syria and Iraq formed an alliance, ignoring previous disputes that had divided them, to confront the issue of water control. Iraq and Syria watched with apprehension the construction of the Atatürk Dam in Türkiye and a projected system of 22 dams on the Tigris and Euphrates rivers.[33]
In the Middle East, all major rivers cross at least one international border, and the most important, the Tigris and Euphrates, flow through three major Middle Eastern nations. This means that nations, cities and towns downstream from one another are greatly affected by the actions and decisions of other groups over which they have little practical control. In particular, this is evident with the cutting off of water supplies from one nation to the next, just as air pollution problems affect the states surrounding the one that is initially producing the pollution. It is believed that up to 50% of the water needed by one Middle Eastern country comes from another.
According to the BBC, the list of “water-scarce” countries in the region went from three in 1955 to eight in 1990, and another seven are expected to be added within 20 years, including three Nile nations (nine countries share the Nile). According to former President Hosni Mubarak, the only conceivable flashpoint Egypt may encounter in the century is control of freshwater resources. With considerable but declining fertility rates, the question of water distribution in the Middle East will not be easy to dismiss.
A recent report "Water Cooperation for a Secure World" published by Strategic Foresight Group") shows that active water cooperation between countries sharing transboundary water resources is directly correlated with the security and peace of the nations involved. In contrast, the absence of active water cooperation is directly correlated with the risk of war between countries sharing transboundary water resources. This conclusion is reached after examining transboundary water relations in more of 200 shared river basins in 148 countries. Middle Eastern countries face the risk of war because they have avoided regional cooperation for too long. The report offers examples of fruitful cooperation, which can be used by Middle Eastern countries.[34].
South America
The Guarani Aquifer, located between the Mercosur countries, Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay, with a volume of approximately 40,000 km, is an important source of fresh drinking water for the four countries. It is replenished with water from rain and small rivers and streams, mainly on its banks. As the population growth in its area is still relatively high (the aquifer feeder areas, especially the most humid ones, can locate even important and large metropolitan areas such as São Paulo and Curitiba), monitoring is necessary to avoid depletion and pollution, which would be associated with the still very weak environmental legislation relating to agriculture and with the still low performance of sanitation coverage (mainly in the form of discharge of untreated wastewater and exposed untreated garbage, even urban, which potentiates the problems associated with floods), in the affected countries.
USA
The Water Justice movement is largely an American grassroots movement, in which small groups of citizens take matters into their own hands through protests, petitions, fundraising, or donating items such as water filters to expand access to clean water. Some well-known figures have used their notoriety to promote the cause of water justice: Erin Brockovich, media personality and environmental activist, has spoken out against the authorities' mismanagement of the water crisis in Flint.[44][45] Actress Shailene Woodley was arrested at a protest against the Dakota Access pipeline), later writing about her experience: "If you are a human being who needs water to survive, this issue concerns you. directly».[46].
Another key player advocating for access to clean water at the Standing Rock Protests is Standing Rock Sioux Tribe Chairman Dave Archambault II. Tribal Chairman Dave Archambault II, who has spoken before the Human Rights Council at the UN in Geneva on behalf of his tribe. In another statement, Archambault thanked those who fought against the pipeline "in the name of protecting our water."[47]
The Water Justice movement has also spread around the world, encompassing a wide range of diverse groups, such as the World Water Justice Movement, Friends of the Right to Water, the Center for Housing Rights and Evictions, Food and Water Watch, and the Heinrich Böll Foundation. Groups like these consider water to be part of the global commons, which is why they oppose the privatization of water resources and attribute the responsibility of guaranteeing the right to water to the State.[48][49].
To prevent increased pollution and environmental damage, as well as to keep drinking water clean, several laws have been enacted.
In the United States alone there has been a lot of activity around the water problems in Standing Rock, North Dakota, and Flint, Michigan. When the issue of building an oil pipeline on North Dakota's Standing Rock Indian Reservation arose, residents began to act almost immediately. When construction of the pipeline was proposed in January 2016, the Sioux Tribe launched a petition that gathered almost half a million signatures in 3 months.[55] This postponed construction of the pipeline, but the action did not stop there. In July of the same year, the tribe attempted to sue the Army Corps of Engineers, arguing that it would harm the area's water supply. This only led Energy Transfer Partners to file a countersuit, alleging that the group was hindering its work.[55] 2016 presidential candidate Jill Stein led anti-construction movements, which included spray-painting an excavator with the phrase "I approve this message."[56] Adding to the issue, actress Shailene Woodley was arrested for blocking construction of the pipeline.[57] The debate over whether the pipeline will actually be built or it is not still underway.
The water crisis in Flint, Michigan has also led activists to focus on getting clean water to the population. Following the 2014 decision to make the Flint River the city's primary water source, residents quickly noticed their water quality declining.[58] The American Civil Liberties Union filed multiple lawsuits against Flint's administration, alleging that the levels of lead in the water are absurd, and demanded that the pipes be replaced.[59] This has not yet happened, and Flint residents continue to struggle for clean water.
Case studies: Africa
In Obuasi, Ghana, there is one of the main gold mines in the world. It was in 1897 that the first machinery was used to extract gold from the region.[66] As the years passed, new strategies were needed to establish ways of "treating the minerals."[66] In 1908, a leading chemist was brought in to help with the strategies and brought his Australian method of "dry crushing and roasting preparatory to cyanide treatment."[66] Many rivers, fishing grounds and irrigation systems have been damaged. mild or permanent.[67] The mining industry has tried to compensate for this situation by building vertical pipes, but for many they have been of no use. The average amount of pollution in the Obuasi water system was more than 10-38 times higher than the maximum amount allowed by law.[68] The two main sources of pollution are arsenic dust coming out of factories[69] and the large amount of runoff water that is removed through dams.[68] “Thus, in the processing of ore to obtain gold, the dust may contain particles of the ore, ferric oxide, oxides of arsenic and sulfur."[70] The dust is then transported into the atmosphere and deposited on the ground, humans, and rivers.[70] In Obuasi, they receive high annual rainfall due to the surrounding rainforest (Smedley, 1996, 464). During precipitation or rain, dust "can be oxidized to trioxide by the air and converted to sulfate in dew and rainwater." Soil is the main target of pollution because the soil is contaminated and any vegetation that grows and decomposes returns directly to the soil, resulting in contamination of groundwater. However, groundwater is not as contaminated as streams or rivers mainly due to the high process of dissolution of arsenic and to the subsoil rocks that are between the groundwater and the soil. «The only drawback is that what is deposited on the surface soil can be carried to greater depths over time by rainwater (Gish et al., 2010, 1973).» unresolved toxic spills, many rivers, streams, lakes and irrigation systems have been damaged or obsolete.[72] Local residents have been greatly affected by this phenomenon. Residents have seen the environmental changes, especially in the water. Sludge floats in streams that were once the main sources of drinking water according to local residents.[67] All marine life in the rivers and streams has died due to the high amounts of chemicals in the water.[73] According to Action Aid, residents have seen pipes emptying directly into local streams and rivers and depositing waste directly, sometimes causing the streams and rivers to flood (2006, 11). Many local farmers were hit hardest by water contamination. Because the irrigation systems used contaminated water to irrigate, all the soil became contaminated as well.[67] The soil was no longer usable, causing the crops they used for their businesses and their own families to die.[67] Children have also been affected by the contamination. According to Action Aid, many schools have been flooded by overflowing local streams, forcing children to leave school, sometimes permanently. AngloGold Ashanti (AGA) has installed standpipes to compensate for the contaminated water supply, but these have also been of no use to the local population. The pipes were installed in the 1940s and 1950s and are now contaminated with arsenic from factories.[74] AGA staff say this is because they are made of iron, but studies have shown large amounts of arsenic in the water.[74] Many standpipes are broken or obsolete.[67] This forces residents to walk at least 1.5 miles to get clean water.[75] All of the The work that local people have to go through to get clean water is unnecessary. The inhabitants have not been compensated for the damage caused to water and the environment.