It’s All About The Water?!?
So someone else reminded me that Iraq controls the largest single source of above-ground fresh water in the Middle East: the confluence between the Tigris, the Euphrates, and the Greater and Lesser Zabs. This once-super-fertile region is where agriculture began and also where one of the earliest human-created ecological disasters of deforestation, salination, and over-grazing led to a massive population collapse during the first phase of human city building. And this accounts for the persisten of the Eden myth in Semitic-influenced cultures. Simply put, Iraq was the Garden of Eden. You’ve come a long way, baby. Anyway, Iraq still has all this water and Saudi Arabia and Israel have, well, almost none left. And their situation is getting worse. I remember back during the first Gulf War at a peace rally I said the next war would be fought over water, not oil, and I think it will be interesting to see if Halliburton gets the Iraq-Israel canal contract if and when Iraq is subdued.
I note that in 1953 under the Johnston Plan, the US proposed that Israel should receive just under 40% of the Jordan River water, with various Arab states receiving shares. Although this arrangement was rejected by all countries but Israel, Jordan has tacitly allowed Israel to drain this proportion of water from the river.
http://www.mbapages.com/fark/ritter.jpg
Desalination is not the answer, it’s hugely expensive, grossly fragile, massively vulnerable, and unsustainable in the long run. And if you don;t think that control of water at least features in the war plans of national leaders, especially in the Middle East, then you are less of astudent of history than I thought.
Desalination is AN answer. Again, more tha 50% of Israel’s water will be coming from desalination. The price has dramatically dropped in the last 10 years and it is not too expensive. I don’t see how it’s fragile or vulnerable. Rivers, as Syria/Lebanon want to do, can be diverted, damed up, and poisonned.
For countries that have oil flowing our their ass, like the arabs, have plenty of enery to convert seawater into fresh. Israel will be adding large solar and wind sources in the next few years.
Hugs
this is stupid. You could say the same thing about a dam. you could blow it up inexpensively. also, $50M is nothing to kuwait. it’s inexpensive, compared to the alternatives.
THey had a great many $50m desalination pkants. I believe we’ve talked about dieback in the Middle East before. Simply put, there isn’t nearly enough ground water or subsurface water there to support the growing population. The addition of several million East European colonists in to the area around Tel Aviv and Jerusalem hasn’t helped matters any. The region is already overstretched and delaination is not a viable solution.
http://www.meehawl.com/Blogfiles/2003_01_05_WeekArchive.php#87077249
And the decision by Intel to site their Fab in an especially arid region of Israel still amazes me, given the extreme water demands of silicon production.
http://www.meehawl.com/Blogfiles/2003_01_19_WeekArchive.php#87920597
Step 1) Blame the Jews for the water problems of Arabia, Kuwait, Oman, etc?
Step 2) Blame Jewish immigrants
Never do you mention the fact that arabs reproduce at 2-3 times the rate of the rest of the world. You just jump on the Jews everytime. It’s instinct. It’s one-sided. Were you to be even-handed that would be one thing. But you only mention one-side.
Also, given your own statement that there isn’t enough fresh water for the region, there are basaically only 3 solutions: 1) desalinization 2) water tankers from turkey and 3) fewer people. #1 is currently cheaper and more stable and less fragile than #2. #3 is not feasible or desireable as long as they can afford #1. Again, the countries of the region are all able to afford desalinization so there is no problem. It’s just a discussion about how to save a little bit of money here and there. Israel or the oil producing arab countries can afford water. Countries that cannot (possibly someone like Jordan), will have to adopt rationing, or readjust their budget.
I would never blame “Jews” for anything — those voices you seem to hear all the time are in your head, not mine. I blame simple overpopulation, and geopolitics. Moving several million people into an incredibly arid region of the world is a Very Bad Idea and I simply don;t see any way you can justify it. And the Palestinian growth rate in the West Bank and Gaza concentration camps is also unsustainable in the long run. Again, I say it will come down to a dieback that will not respect sectarian origins.
“Water scarcity is now the single greatest threat to human health, the environment, and the global food supply,”
http://www.futureharvest.org/news/03171999.shtml
Israel controls the greater part of the Jordan River basin and the West Bank’s aquifers. Palestinian consumption is severely restricted by the military authorities, causing serious water deficiencies in most Palestinian homes.
The development of large-scale water projects has frequently been advocated by those who hold that there is an insufficient supply of water in the Jordan basin and western aquifers of Palestine and Israel. Many fantastic and creative schemes have been proposed for the enhancement of water supply, most notably the following:
Large-scale desalinization projects, often linked with hydro-electric power generation:
Red Sea-Dead Sea conduit
Mediterranean-Dead Sea conduit
Water diversion projects:
from Lebanon’s Litani River to the Jordan headwaters.
from the Nile to Israel or Gaza, with a pipeline going underneath the Suez Canal
Water conveyance projects:
oil tanker conveyance of Turkish or Yugoslavian waters
Conveyance of Turkish or Norwegian waters in enormous balloon-like “medusa bags”
Unfortunately, faith in such dream-solutions is often ill-founded. They flounder in the face of astronomical capital expenditure. To cite one example: recent Jordanian-Israeli discussion over the proposed Red Sea-Dead Sea desalinization, pipeline and hydroelectric project has reached an estimated initial cost of $3 billion.
http://www.arij.org/pub/corissues/