Police guarding water infrastructure assets as civilians rebel
The American West and Middle East are not the only places water wars are becoming increasingly urgent and violent. In France (not a country one thinks of as water challenged) gendarmes are guarding water supplies as water use stakeholders face off in the face of fast changing conditions. As the country reels in the aftermath of a record summer heat wave – a season of wild fires and shrinking rivers – authorities are attempting to construct massive reservoirs to retain water specifically for the commercial agriculture industry. This is not sitting well with taxpayers who are funding the projects, who claim the reservoirs are tantamount to illegal privatization and benefit a select few of wasteful industrial farms.
In Nouvelle-Aquitaine, thousands of activists protesting a new “mega basin” reservoir confronted military police armed with tear gas. The protesters ripped out pipelines used to feed the system.
Environmentalists are also displeased, citing the consequences of diverting this quantity of water from ecosystems.
Whatever the merits of these respective positions, they reflect similar events and conditions around the planet, from the American West, Egypt, the Middle East and Africa. Elsewhere, smaller scale vandalism and civil disobedience episodes are multiplying as citizens resist water restrictions regulations. Water is being stolen from resort Jacuzzis, fire departments and cemeteries.
Activists or saboteurs, concerned citizens or criminals, these scenarios are now a daily occurrence around the world.
“In the morning you go gunning for the man who stole your water”
Saudi Arabia Tapping In Arizona Aquifer
Lobbyists aided mass transfer of water overseas
Some wells are beginning to run dry as massive, foreign-owned mega farms are “legally” sucking up water in Arizona’s La Paz County and using it to grow alfalfa and other cattle feed crops. The feed is then shipped overseas as fodder for livestock in the Middle East. The farms are paying rock bottom prices as local wells and aquifers show the effects of over pumping. While it is illegal to divert water out of state, it is not against the obsolete water regulations to ship the crops grown with the water.
Zimbabwe Hydro Levels At Record Lows
Main power planet shuts down as larger crisis looms
Power generation has been shut down at Kariba Dam, the largest hydro project in souther Africa. The Zimbabwe Power Company has used up it’s 2022 water allocation as water levels at the station drop to record lows. The dam generates 70% of the power for Zimbabwe and Zambia.
Saltwater Moving Into R. Euphrates
Drought & dams changing fertile crescent
Saltwater from the Persian Gulf is invading the delta of the Euphrates River as the river continues to dry up . The calamity is the result of extended drought and political battles both within Iraq and with Turkey. In addition to poisoning livestock, the brackish water is making farming in the “fertile crescent” impossible. Farmers in the once thriving region are selling their herds and moving into cities, another group of under the radar climate refugees.