by Mouhcine Azizoun

Created on: September 08, 2009   Last Updated: February 26, 2010

In the past, Hassan II, the late king of Morocco whose name is associated with the international award "The King Hassan II Great World Water Prize", foretold how the world would suffer water shortages when the generality of leaders showed favoritism towards industrial expansion. At present, the late king's prediction has come true and water shortage has become a global problem. This problem has become a source of conflicts to the degree that some predict that future wars will be fought over it. Will this prediction come true just as the late king's one did?

Aaron T. Wolf, a professor of geography in the Department of Geosciences at Oregon State University, said in his research that there were no wars over water except for 37 military acts between states. Israel and its neighbors were involved in thirty of these acts. It is crystal clear that countries in the Middle East are the ones likely to fight over water. However, in actual fact, water will not be the driving force of the war.

They are not liable to fight by virtue of water scarcity. To put it rather differently, water shortage will only add insult to injury and trigger the already existing problems between these countries. Bearing in mind the deep-seated Arab-Israeli conflict, future wars between them should not be called water wars for the simple reason that the dearth of this liquid will not be the main culprit. But will it be the primary cause of war between other countries?

Anders Jaegerskog of the Stockholm International Water Institute said that it takes quite a reach of imagination to envisage how one wins a water war. He said: "If you conquer territory to gain control over a river you still have to provide water to people living there." Therefore, this could not be called "taking control" by any stretch of imagination since you still have to dispense the real owners of the river. This begs the question of why there should be a war in the first place.

When both parts have the right to benefit from the river then seeking a solution must be the preferred option. A simple-minded person would fail to fathom the logic behind starting a war over water. Leaders who will choose to enter in such a war in the course of time would be considered as lacking a bit in the brain department. But if they do not start a war, what is the solution?

Desalination is one of the solutions. It refers to the processes used to make fresh water by taking salt out of seawater and thus making it clean. The earth is called the

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