President of the Arab Water Council, Mahmoud Abu Zeid stated that “water represents life, seizing such resources in Arab countries would be very serious and would constitute an inhumane means of pressure.” Islamic States militants and the Iraqi government come to a unanimous agreement that Turkey has been using more than its fair share in water.

The Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations stated that based on the historical treaty between Turkey and Syria in 1987, Turkey keeps about a third of the Euphrates flow. Turkey has no treaty with Iraq. No international agreement for the Tigris exist at all, however Turkey aims to regulate the Tigris similarly to the Euphrates.

The area of Iraq takes up 407,880km­­of the Euphrate-Tigris River Basin versus Turkey’s 192,190km. It can be said that Iraq should have a larger share of the resource and also have the rights to regulate the water, not Turkey. Turkey uses about 41 percent of the water resources while Middle Eastern countries consume most of theirs. The falling water levels are the results of poor downstream management, the failure to make repairs and conflict.

The International Committee of the Red Cross stated that “leaks alone cost Syria 60 percent of its water.”

Revolutionary groups such as ISIS have decided on taking control of the waters. In the summer of 2014, ISIS diverted water supply toward Iraq by taking over dams, which resulted in electric and water shortages for those areas which relied on hydroelectric power.

Waters in the Middle East are not properly regulated. Syria for an example continue to plan water-thirsty crops like wheat and cotton, while knowing that water is a scarce resource and it should be conserved.

However, in today’s crisis it is much more severe.

ISIS have been taking control of the dams and diverting water elsewhere. Water is no longer seen as a resource, but as a . Water scarcity takes accelerates the process of revolutionary group takeovers, it is only a matter of more citizens would join the army and rebel against the poorly defined government.

The problem is not whether Turkey, Syria, and/or Iraq should take the blame or have more control over the waters, it is the opposite. These three key players need to come to an agreement onto manage water across their political boundaries. Until then, water as a resource, will be continuously abused and exists for the fundamental goals of revolutionary groups.

jzheng7@masonlive.gmu.edu

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Using Icebergs for Solutions to Water Shortages in United Arab Emirates

by Courtney Johnston

         There have been many problems worldwide involving water shortages. Some of these problems have even occurred in the United States. However, there is one nation that is facing a water shortage problem and one solution that was presented was to use icebergs from Antarctica to create more water. An environmental company plans “to drag icebergs almost 10,000 km across the Indian Ocean and park them off the country’s coast”, to help the water shortage problem that is occurring in The United Arab Emirates (Fairfax New Zealand Limited 2014, 2017). This country is very dry and most of the land is desert, so there is very little rainfall (Fairfax New Zealand Limited 2014, 2017).

One of the solutions to their water shortage is to desalinate seawater so that is can be used by the people, however this is very costly and damaging the environment (Fairfax New Zealand Limited 2014, 2017). Director of the Abu Dhabi-based National Advisor Bureau claims that, “the icebergs could hold as much as 100 billion liters of the world’s freshest water – enough drinking water for one million people for five years” (Fairfax New Zealand Limited 2014, 2017).

Although this may seem like a solution to their problems it may not be because this could cause even more concern and arise more issues because it would cause major problems for the environment, and may even attribute to climate change. The icebergs are already becoming affected by climate change and they are melting at a much higher rate than in the past. Trying to use icebergs to solve water shortage problems will bring along with it other problems because other countries may try to use the icebergs for their own benefit. Once one iceberg is used up then another one will need to take its place. Water shortage in the United Arab Emirates is a huge problem and other solutions should be presented to help the nation.

Reference:

Fairfax New Zealand Limited 2014 (May 4, 2017). Tip of the iceberg is answer for

thirsty gulf. The Nelson Mail (8). Retrieved from https://search-proquest-com.mutex.gmu.edu/docview/1895008683/fulltext/51F5814A93594B36PQ/2?accountid=14541