Drinking water is becoming a major world problem
In the capital of Mexico, Mexico City, November 27, 2008. The fourth forum of the World Water Council was held, where hundreds of delegates from all over the world discussed issues related to the fair distribution of water supplies.
Participants discussed signs of progress towards the goals of this council set at the 1992 World Conference in Rio de Janeiro, the main ones being a 50 per cent reduction in the number of people unable to afford peak water, of which about 1 5 billion and stopping the unsustainable exploitation of water sources.
Waste of wealth
Although the capital of Mexico was chosen to host this forum, it is by no means a model for solving water problems. Namely, this most populous city in North America is a kind of sieve through whose faulty taps almost a third of the total water supply of Mexico City flows out every year. This is due to a faulty infrastructure.
The Forum also discussed regions, countries and cities where there is no concern for fresh water at all, and there was talk of possible conflicts over water, which experts have been warning about for a long time.
Manuel Perlo of the National Autonomous University said ahead of the forum that there was a significant increase in the number and intensity of water-related conflicts that could lead to real wars. This introduction to the topic is a kind of continuation of the symposium on water held in Stockholm in 2003, where scientists also concluded that the risk of water wars is constantly growing, primarily due to world population growth and widespread scattering.
Wars over water
In October 2008, British Defense Secretary John Reid argued at the Royal Institute of International Affairs that global warming would accelerate violent conflicts among a growing world population due to dwindling sources of drinking water. Reid said violence and political conflicts would become a reality in 20 to 30 years, and will be caused by climate change that is turning the country into a desert, melting ice at the poles and polluting water supplies.
