Future War May Be For Water.
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Future war may be for water.

In the coming century, new challenges are emerging. We are confronted with both old and new threats to international scarcity of many commodities especially good air and water causing security of population; resulting widespread poverty. It has to be recognized by world leaders as the most daunting of all the problems facing the world in the new century; and fundamental values of freedom, equality, solidarity, tolerance, respect for nature and shared responsibility now form common values through which achievements in all the further categories can be realized. In each of these key areas environment and resources play a central role. Threats to common security now include so-called 'soft threats': environmental degradation, resource depletion, contagious diseases and corruption, to name just a few. It is now recognized that environmental degradation and both scarcity and abundance of natural resources are potential sources of conflict – and cooperation – and need to be more systematically addressed in this context. Access to freshwater and sanitation services are a precondition to achieving the other internationally accepted goals in the Millennium Declaration.

Scarcity of water is a function of supply and demand. Demand is increasing at an alarming rate in some regions, through population growth and increasing per-capita use. In many water-scarce oil rich Gulf countries,saline water purification may be temperory affordable method.But we have to find out permanent solutions by preserving the eco system. The second crisis is deterioratingwater quality. Agriculture is the biggest polluter: increased use of fertilizer and pesticides has contaminated both groundwater and surface water supplies. Domestic and industrial pollution is also increasing, and the problem affects mainly in developed and partially in developing countries.

The Nobel Prize-winner Mr.George Wald, Said that our Universe especially earth was designed to support life. The evidence, he said, is clearly apparent in the elements carbon, hydrogen, oxygen and nitrogen. "They all have unique properties that fit the job and are not shared by any element in the periodic system and Life everywhere has to be made of some combination of these four simple elements." Water is the only element known to man that exists naturally in all three of these states: 1.) as  in a "solid state" as ice, 2.) in a "liquid state" as water and 3.) in a "gaseous state" as vapor. Each of these unique properties have been critical to the development of our world, our plants, our foods, our bodies, our health, our heat, our cooling, our power, our electricity . . . . and on and on.

All nations should cooperate to understand the importance of an integrated approach to waterresource management at both international and local levels. Equity and rights, cultural and ethical issues are essential to be addressed when dealing with limited water resources. Imbalances between availability and demand, the degradation of groundwater and surface water quality, inter-sectoral competition, inter-regional and international disputes, all center around the question of how to cope with scarce water resources.

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