by Nathan Brouwer

Created on: June 12, 2008

I just downed a cool bottle of fresh water. The clouds of the Pacific Northwest outside my window are pregnant with moisture; it will rain this afternoon. I was just in Pittsburgh, where the Allegheny and Monongahela rivers join for with Ohio River, which will meander its way through the hills of Pennsylvania, then lay out the borders over the next several hundred miles between Ohio, Wester Virginia, Kentucky, Indiana, and Illinois. Then it will finally join the Mississippi, one of the great rivers of the world.

In the United States its hard to imagine wars over water. This is especially true in the Northwest, where our clouds, rain, rivers and glaciers are world famous. Also in the mid-west and northeast, with the massive great lakes to the north and the Mississippi running all the way south to the Gulf of Mexico.

Resources wars in general, and water wars in particular, have already occurred. Some of these resources wars were or are "cold" wars of influence and posturing; other have been "hot" and armed to the teeth. Recent academic research and more popular accounts, including Jared Diamond's book Collapse, are pointing the at the roots of many wars throughout history have been struggles not between tribes and nations per se, but over access to natural resources. A recent academic study correlated wars throughout different Chinese dynasties to fluctuations in climate, and the droughts that followed. Buzz words like weapons of mass destruction, Jihad, and fascism are often the readily recognizable sparks that lead to conflict. Beneath the surface, however, are often more subtle - or, in the case of oil, not so subtle - causes of conflict.

Water, like many natural resources, has certain limitations. While renewable, its is used quickly, is under universally high demand, and is easily contaminated. Less than 1% of the world's water is fresh and available for use. Much of this water is hard to reach because its under the ground or is under threat of being contaminated by human waste and industrial chemicals.

In my home town of Bellingham, we draw our drinking water from Lake Whatcom. The water has natural, low-levels of mercury contamination that scientists keep their eyes on, as well as contamination from the homes that ring over half of the lake. Tension mounts as current home owners, fishermen, developers, and people who don't live on the lake but drink the water, all push and pull their agendas.

In the developing world, most people rely on rainwater to irriage

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