We literally hoard water all over the country in underground storage facilities for example. In Los Angeles, the ground rises and falls by more than four inches a year due to this type of collection and the huge quantity required to sustain the city and its population over time. This pumping of water into underground aquifers is stunning to geophysicists as the resulting groundswell is 100 times larger than normal seismic fluctuations. According to these scientists, nowhere else in the world have they observed the magnitude and extent of the change in land levels due to water demand. In northern Orange County, seventy-five percent of all water used is pumped from these aquifers.

By contrast, Ethiopia and Kenya have precious little water, and it is hard won. The area is composed of vast tracts of dry, cracked earth more like the surface of Mars than our own Earth. Dust is another problem, not surprisingly. The wells of the region are typically insufficient or drying up. The people must share their portion of water with the animals. Animals are the people's lifeblood. They have monetary, farming and nutritional value.

Many of the Ethiopian and Kenyan people are nomadic. They go where the food is or could be with proper farming and water. Many unlucky others are forced into slums without sewage systems, garbage pickup, running water or adequate education. The people become angry with the government for not protecting them. The governments hold on to outdated and outmoded principles in greed and worry. The price is volatility and unrest.

Philosophically and scientifically speaking, no one can truly own water. It is part of a contained cycle. At best, water is rented. It passes in and out of our lives, homes and bodies to seek the source, to return to us again in other ways.

Ultimately, a vast paradigm shift in both the ecosystem and equality is required. As a people, we must consume less, buy less, trash less and waste less. We must recycle more, find even more creative solutions and broaden the innate spirit of sharing.

Water fed conflict does not exist in Africa alone. According to the BBC in Obstacles to Peace: Water, the unfair allocation of water has been a historical obstacle to peace in the Arab-Israeli conflict, as well. As settlers around the Gaza and West Bank area build barriers for security, they also engulf areas that have a high-yield of water. The flame of conflict in this area needs no further fanning.

The struggle for water in Africa may be a sub-national conflict however is just as devastating. The fighting for limited resources between tribes, strains delicate peace agreements and can easily become a tipping-point toward violent and bloody civil conflicts.

The lack of water exacerbates ongoing tensions, highlights discord and provokes sensitive issues. The reluctance to protect our most basic of resources will only heighten the problem further. In this century and for centuries to come conflict will be fueled by water and the lack thereof. Open access, allowance and conservation of water is one solution for dampening the potential of future violence and putting out the fire of inflamed discontent.

Learn more about this author, Lauren Bove.
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