Setting religious wars aside, it is probably safe to say the wars started during the Industrial Revolution and beyond have been over access to fossil fuels such as oil, natural gas, and coal.
Israel is a great example, even more so than your excellent 1964 example of the Syrian Canal. No one harvests and preserves water better than Israel. To such an extent, they offered to provide water to Gaza, but the people of Gaza (probably Hamas) declined. The story is told in Seth Siegel's "Let There Be Water." The fact is, we are very wasteful compared to the Israelis.
I have long held the opinion that the federal oversight should address our nation's water distribution efforts, similar to what was done during the depression with the Hoover, Grand Coulee, Fort Peck, and Bonneville dams, and more. All were unheard of engineering efforts and received federal sponsorship. Since then, much has been learned about pipelines and canal systems, and modern material and techniques developed. A nation-wide water distribution system must be constructed to move water from areas of seasonal heavy rains and flooding to those area suffering from drought. Many jobs would be created, and the technologies developed can later be shared. Desalinization is an obvious similar method of addressing water shortage, and more cost effectively be applied to shores where population is highest. The biggest issue historically is that federal funding is often applied to the wrong businesses. Solyndra is a great example.
Who can deny the importance of fresh water in our lives? Yet how can we justify using so much of it in the fracking process?
Some quick and dirty research (Google, basically) says hydraulic fracturing uses about "4 million gallons per well." But I couldn't find if that's per year, for the life of the well, or what. Still, that's a lot of fresh water to pump deep into the ground, never to be seen again.
An AI result reads: "Fracking operations in the US use an estimated 70 to 140 billion gallons of water annually."
This doesn't seem sustainable, yet it also doesn't seem important. I confess to being confused.
Israel is a great example, even more so than your excellent 1964 example of the Syrian Canal. No one harvests and preserves water better than Israel. To such an extent, they offered to provide water to Gaza, but the people of Gaza (probably Hamas) declined. The story is told in Seth Siegel's "Let There Be Water." The fact is, we are very wasteful compared to the Israelis.
GREAT READ/ ON POINT!
Thank you for pointing this out. Why can't the African countries figure out how to conserve and direct what water they have? I will always wonder.
I have long held the opinion that the federal oversight should address our nation's water distribution efforts, similar to what was done during the depression with the Hoover, Grand Coulee, Fort Peck, and Bonneville dams, and more. All were unheard of engineering efforts and received federal sponsorship. Since then, much has been learned about pipelines and canal systems, and modern material and techniques developed. A nation-wide water distribution system must be constructed to move water from areas of seasonal heavy rains and flooding to those area suffering from drought. Many jobs would be created, and the technologies developed can later be shared. Desalinization is an obvious similar method of addressing water shortage, and more cost effectively be applied to shores where population is highest. The biggest issue historically is that federal funding is often applied to the wrong businesses. Solyndra is a great example.
Great article! I never hear or see of stories where the legacy media talks about the importance of water.
Who can deny the importance of fresh water in our lives? Yet how can we justify using so much of it in the fracking process?
Some quick and dirty research (Google, basically) says hydraulic fracturing uses about "4 million gallons per well." But I couldn't find if that's per year, for the life of the well, or what. Still, that's a lot of fresh water to pump deep into the ground, never to be seen again.
An AI result reads: "Fracking operations in the US use an estimated 70 to 140 billion gallons of water annually."
This doesn't seem sustainable, yet it also doesn't seem important. I confess to being confused.