Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Global Water Battles
The United States certainly hasn't cornered the market on con-
cerns or disputes over water supply. Battles over water—whether
clean drinking water, waste and wastewater, overuse or underuse,
pollution, supplies, climate, or something else entirely—stretch
across the globe. A few samples:
Under a siege of sorts from climate change and pollution
associated with humanity and industry, which threaten its
future as a living lake, is Earth's largest freshwater lake, Lake
Baikal. Located in Siberia near its border with Mongolia,
the lake contains about 20 percent of the world's total fresh
surface water, or as much as all the Great Lakes combined,
according to data from the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS)
(http://pubs.usgs.gov/fs/baikal/).
In April 2008, Bangladeshis hit the streets to protest a water
shortage. A falling water table and lack of electricity to oper-
ate pumps to access the deeper water brought protesters to
the streets of Dhaka, the capital city.
Chile and Bolivia have been in a verbal war over water in vari-
ous rivers since the 1960s. At one point in 1978, the two even
broke off formal diplomatic relations because of their ongo-
ing dispute.
John Gandomcar has a unique perspective on the world water
crisis. Born and raised in Iran, he's spent the last 25 years rais-
ing horses, ranching, and developing land in semiarid Colorado.
“Water was abundant in Iran. The Euphrates River fl owed down
from the mountains above our town, Abadan. You could dig down
fi ve or six inches to reach plenty of water. The land was lush and
green,” says Gandomcar.
That's hardly the picture of some of Gandomcar's sagebrush-,
dust-, and dry grass-blown acreage in Colorado. Fortunately, though,
Gandomcar knows the value of water and water rights in the western
United States, so his properties have access to the water he needs.
“In Colorado, the rights control the water, and rights holders know
when to use the water or waste it,” says Gandomcar.
