Water Exports

Water Exports

Have you ever thought of living with no Great Lakes? (map #3 page 7) Well it could become a reality with the discussion of Great Lakes water exports. Water is a necessity for life and the environment. In previous years, oil and global warming have been the major world issues, however water will be the world issue of the future. Water is now up for consideration as the new oil, especially in Canada. Did you know that Canada has 1% of the world's population but has 20% of the world's freshwater resources? This fact has led to discussion of water exportation to the southern United States and the Middle East. Manitoba has talked about exporting their water to Texas. It will cost 9 billion dollars to construct the pipeline but it will lead to a 7 billion dollar income for the province (Francis 1). Although Canadian water exports could create enormous economic benefits, it will negatively affect ecosystems and the local population and is not a solution to fresh water shortages.

One of the first times water exportation was used in our "time" was when the United States exported water to their troops during the Gulf War from Turkey. The Middle East is another one the imports fresh water. (Wikepedia) The first time water exportation was talked about within governments was late in the 1990's. With the talk of global warming around the world, leaders of countries with insufficient amounts of water, were forced to take action and make a plan to allow their country to survive in the future in case of water shortages. The first time Canada talked about exporting water to the United States was in the 1960's when the southern part of the United States experienced their first water shortage. In the 1960's, the North American Water And Power Alliance scheme was proposed to divert water flow down to the United States and parts of Canada. Canada would've been at a disadvantage here because the United States would be the largest user. At first it looked like a good idea with the advantages of hydroelectric plants and more industry but Canada eventually decided against it (map 2. page 7). Exports are used to help suffering nations in which are mauled by poor drinking water or just no freshwater. Middle Eastern countries have felt the shortage of water for a long time now. The poor people in the Middle Eastern countries have felt the feeling that we may get if we export. They have lived without water or clean water for a very long time. I certainly don't want to look like those countries. Major problems arise with shortages of water.

In the world right now, one third of the population is suffering from water scarcity. With global warming supposedly coming into effect, countries are trying to find solutions for this life or death situation. The Middle East is suffering from a water shortage crisis of historic proportion. Did you know that every 8 seconds a child dies because of a water-borne disease? This fact is the one that haunts the Middle East. The children do not have fresh water or clean water to drink that causes them to have diarrhoea and then die of dehydration. In 2025, it is predicted that two-thirds of world's population will not have adequate access to clean water supply. With analysts saying that we will have a total population of eleven billion in year 2050, this issue could wipe out a large part of the population, especially the children. Exporting water to other countries can hurt the population of where it is being exported. If an agreement is reached between the two parties that require a contract of amount of water being exported such as daily, weekly, monthly, yearly, the place in which it is exporting from can be completely destroyed. If the contract has a minimum amount and the place that is exporting runs out, it could completely destroy that community. Also, if a party/country does not meet the rules for their contract, a major conflict can arise within the two. With the water being exported, and there is a flaw in the agreement; the water that is being exported could run out. That means that the people living nearby will suffer from water shortages and have the chance of becoming ill or dieing just like the people in the Middle East. An example of water shortages is China. They have 20% of the world's population and only 7% of the global water supply. This means that about 320 million Chinese are without sufficient amounts of clean water (Francis 2). If some countries do not allow exportation of water to a country like China, a majority of their population will become ill and may die to the lack of water. With the possibility of water being exported from Canada, the possibility of having a water shortage is possible. If there is a water shortage from exporting, cottagers/farmers/water front owners will be very mad. If there is one, farmers will lose their crops and cottagers and water front owners will lose their property value. Water exportation could possibly negatively affect the economy also.

When people think about water exports, they usually don't take into consideration the environmental affects. There are many environmental affects relating to water exports. The biggest one is no water. If there were no water left in a lake, we would lose our entire habitat. People would be out of jobs; people may not have food because they fished for their food etc. We would have no animals left nearby at all. They would all either die or disperse and go on off to areas that can supply them with their needs. Trees and plants would struggle to grow with no water left to nourish them. That would mean very hard living conditions. In some areas of Canada they rely on fishing and hunting for their income but if there is a shortage or no water to speak of, they will have to move and that will deplete the economy in their community which eventually leads to poor families and abandoned regions. The environment would also affect the farmers. They would have an insufficient amount of water to nourish their crops. The crops that they are growing could be a very valuable part of our food chain and if there is less places to buy from the price will