Water Wars

Technocrat

Water Wars

zogger

Fri Nov 28 12:07:00 -0800 2008

Science.

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Water is a necessity of life, but it is also a weapon of war and of economics. A large inland reservoir formed years ago to help control annual flooding in Iraq developed into a robust commercial fishing lake with a lot of tourism besides. The first Iraq war caused Saddam to retaliate against the "Marsh Arabs" as he drained their marshes, which impacted the lake. Now, Turkey has begun damming up the Euphrates, slowing the water that feeds the reservoir to almost nothing. What was a good resource is now turned into almost a dead sea, and soon it will just be a salt flat.

On a normal day each fisherman can net around 50 kilograms (110 pounds) of Shanak, worth around five dollars (four euros). The work is hard, the salt burns their skin, and the salty water rots their wooden boats. ed.z.: As bad as it might get in the developed world with employment and payscales, there are always examples like this to show what it is like for so many other people. Helps you to keep things in perspective.

Water Wars

phred14

Fri Nov 28 16:27:06 -0800 2008
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I just went this afternoon to see "The Quantum of Solace." Not that the movie was much besides explosions, fights, and travel, but it does represent an increasing awareness of the political role of fresh water in the world. (Actually, I rather liked the somber tone. I pretty much missed the post-Moore Bond movies, but the in the last Moor ones, he seemed to be pretty much mugging/smirking his way through the films - all the way to the bank.)

Water Wars

President4242

Mon Dec 01 09:10:14 -0800 2008
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I'm slightly amazed that there is any protien, anywhere in the world, that is only worth 25 cents a pound.

I had thought that would have been much higher.

Having read this though- it's kind of like Celilo Falls in reverse. This was never meant to be a fishing lake or a marsh- it was meant to be a flood control basin.

It was never meant to be a resource.

At least recently, they proved that if the Dalles Dam ever becomes so obsolete that it gets removed, Celilo is still intact, and evolution being what it is, would become the resource again that it once was rather quickly.