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[igotthisguitar]

Pressure to export fresh water likely to grow as U.S. shortages increase
DENNIS BUECKERT
Sun Jan 1,12:49 PM ET

OTTAWA (CP) - There was an edge of frustration in Paul Cellucci's voice when he raised the topic of fresh water exports in a radio interview last month.

"Canada has probably one of the largest resources of fresh water in the world," the former U.S. ambassador said during a debate on Canada-U.S. relations.

"Water is going to be - already is - a very valuable commodity and I've always found it odd where Canada is so willing to sell oil and natural gas and uranium and coal, which are by their very nature finite. But talking about water is off the table, and water is renewable.

"It doesn't make any sense to me."

It was as close as any high-profile American has come recently to saying what many Canadians have long suspected - Washington wants our water.

Officially, the U.S. government says it's not interested in Canadian water. But many believe the issue will soon break into the open.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/cpress/year_water_for_sale;_ylt=AnUL.L.eDuxAHhwaPRIg3mEDW7oF;_ylu=X3oDMTBiMW04NW9mBHNlYwMlJVRPUCUl

Apparently under NAFTA there's some very disturbing condition that if Canada sells one drop of its water, it suddenly becomes open season. I saw this was goning to become a huge issue back when i was just a kid.

[rapier]

As I've said...we will be fighting over water and other natural resources (that we've uptil now taken for granted). Global warming will accentuate the problems in this regard.
Humankind has failed to find a sustainable and wise way of utilising our resources, and we will pay the price.

[Gopher]

I saw predictions by the Cousteau Society ten years ago on this: the most vicious wars in the twenty-first century will be fought in the Third World over water rights.

On the other hand, this is a standard, inflammatory Igotthisguitar posting that is going to set the anti-American Canadians off again, accusing the U.S. of having imperial designs on Canada. Absurd.

We may have water management issues. But the developed world does not have the same pressing issues that the developing world will suffer in the coming years. It will start, for example, according to what I saw at the Cousteau Society, when one African nation or another starts daming waterways that benefit one or more other African nations...and this is not applicable in U.S.-Canadian relations because Canada is not in a geographic position to suddenly dry up the U.S. water supply, and even if it were, I seriously doubt that it would, unless Octavius Hite or one or two others here were PM, of course.

So please, let's not make this another U.S.-centric issue for the paranoid, anti-U.S. Canadians to sound off on their lying, evil, southern neighbor who they seem to hate and fear so badly. As it is, U.S.-Canadian relations are becoming more bitter than Chilean-Bolivian relations, where Santiago and La Paz bicker over Bolivian natural gas vs. Chile's stubborn refusal to grant Boliva a corridor to the sea. Is this really what Canadians like you want, Igotthisguitar, for the U.S. and Canada to bicker like Third World countries?

[laogaiguk]

[AbbeFaria]

I came to my own conclusion a long time ago that wars would most likely be fought for basic resources sooner rather than later. Not that it was difficult, the signs are everywhere. It's when I think things like that that I suddenly don't mind all the money my country (US, obviously) spends so much on the military. When the fit hits the shan all those guns, equipment and training should offer a good measure of protection and offensive capabilities.

Of course if things really do get to that point then we're pretty much out of time as it is, but it means I would last that much longer then the other guy. It's mean and cruel but in that situation it's down to basic survival and the gloves come off at that point.

-S-

[Ya-ta Boy]

[AbbeFaria]

[laogaiguk]

[riley]

I see water wars (of a diplomatic sort) happening, but not between Canada and the U.S. I see it happening between different states in the U.S. In fact, I bet it's happening now. I grew up in Oregon and I know a lot of electricity that was generated went to California. I wouldn't be suprised if the same happens right now with water. There have been reports of demographic changes of people moving to the southwestern states. These states don't have a lot of water so they have to import water. Look at Las Vegas with all of that grass in the desert. So for now the problem of water use will stay inside the U.S.
As a side note, how many rivers and water sources are shared by Canada and the United States. I know of the Columbia and the St. Lawrence, and of course the Great Lakes. What else?

[Gopher]

[Gopher]

[Gopher]

[igotthisguitar]

[hogwonguy1979]

The fight for fresh water is without a doubt the biggest fight we will ever see. You already seeing it in the American Southwest. Read Chinatown and Cadillac Desert and you will soon learn this. The Colorado River of the west already has been dammed, diverted, siphoned off that it runs out steam well before it enters the Gulf of California and Mexico is raising hell about this.

Further to the east Mexico and the US are having some viscious disputes over the damming etc of the Rio Grande and water rights. In Texas, most people now agree the most precious liquid in the state is not oil but water. Cities like San Antonio, El Paso and Phoenix are already having major problems acquiring water for their growing metropolises. Major court cases loom not only with Mexico but with farmers over who controls the water beneath their land.

My money is on seeing a military conflict over water rights at some point in my lifetime.

[Gopher]