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Human populations in some areas (e.g. southern California, Israel, and Florida) are growing from 1 to 3% per year, while fresh water supplies are remaining constant or shrinking.
Most new available water supplies are contaminated with industrial waste, sewage or salt. Aquifers are already being rapidly used, so even ground water is no longer a practical solution.
Most purification plants use large amounts of oil or other fuel. Nuclear purification plants are politically unpopular. Solar purification plants require too much land and are very expensive.
In poor and arid countries, such as much of the developing world, water scarcity is truly a massive humanitarian problem. Not only water scarcity but also low water quality are believed responsible for a large number - perhaps the majority - of deaths in the developing world.
An increasing number of wars and civil disputes are occurring over water rights.
In the U.S.'s western region, this is not news. Water wars in the U.S. date from the western expansion of the 1820sEvents and Trends Nationalistic independence movements helped reshape the world during this decade: Greece declares independence from the Ottoman Empire ( 1821). Several countries declared their independence from Spain and Portugal: The Republic of Gran C, even though most of them were fought by private landowners. The historic cowboy range wars were over water rights. Land-theft and rustling were usually attempts to get compensation for or access to water. Mark TwainSamuel Langhorne Clemens ( November 30, 1835- April 21, 1910), better known by his pen name Mark Twain was a famous and popular American humorist, writer and lecturer. Mark Twain was also a steamboat pilot, gold prospector, and journalist. At his peak, he summed up the conflict by saying, "Whiskey is for drinking. Water is for fighting over."
Civil disputes in the U.S. also have a long history, especially in California, after the population expansion of the 1850sEvents and Trends Crimean war ( 1854 1856) fought between Imperial Russia and an alliance consisting of the United Kingdom, the Second French Empire, the Kingdom of Sardinia and the Ottoman Empire. The majority of the conflict takes place around Crimea, o. Both San Francisco, CaliforniaFor other meanings, see San Francisco (disambiguation). Bay Bridge. In the distance is fog covering the western third of the city. Click for additional information The City and County of San Francisco (population 776,773), the fourth-largest city in the s and Los Angeles, CaliforniaThis article is about the city in California. For other uses of 'Los Angeles' see Los Angeles (disambiguation The City of Los Angeles widely known by its abbreviation L. is a large coastal metropolis in Southern California in the western United States. engaged in lengthy negotiations, property acquisition, and litigation to secure water rights. San Francisco flooded a beautiful glacial valley, Tehatchapi, over the bitter protests of conservationists led by the Sierra Club. Los Angeles purchased Mono Valley, and drained it to dust, also over bitter protests.
In the Middle EastThe Middle East is a geographical and cultural area comprising the lands around the southern and eastern parts of the Mediterranean Sea, a territory that extends from the eastern Mediterranean Sea to the Persian Gulf. The Middle East is a subregion of Afr, many of the wars, notably the Six-Day WarThe 1967 Arab-Israeli War also known as the Six-Day War or June War was fought between Israel and its Arab neighbors Egypt, Jordan, and Syria. As a result, Israel gained control of the Gaza Strip, the Sinai Peninsula, the West Bank, and the Golan Heights., have been disputes over water. These are expected to escalate as industry and population increase in the region.