Water War over Swiss Cows

A quarrel has broken out between Switzerland and France after the Swiss army was caught stealing water from a French lake

A quarrel has broken out between Switzerland and France after the Swiss army was caught stealing water from a French lake. While Switzerland's aqua grab seems to have been an honest mistake during a military operation to quench the thirst of the nation's drought-stricken cows, the European spat presages scenes that threaten to become more frequent and more violent all around the world, as climate change increases competition for the wet stuff.

Earlier this month, thermometers in Geneva reached a record 39.7 degrees Celsius (103 Fahrenheit). In France, meantime, 66 of the country's 96 regions have imposed restrictions on water usage, with half imposing crisis curbs that include a ban on water for agriculture. So when Swiss helicopters scooped up 53,000 liters (14,000 gallons), the locals near Lac des Rousses in the French Alps were none too pleased.

Water crises were deemed the world's biggest risk in terms of global impact, in the World Economic Forum's 2015 "Global Risks Landscape" report, beating pandemics, weapons of mass destruction and interstate conflicts. The International Monetary Fund says water resources worldwide "are coming under intense pressure," and this is a potential drag on global economic growth:

"Water is a special economic good, with many unique features that differentiate it from other commodities: it is both a private and public good; it is bulky and difficult to transport; it can be used sequentially and can be recycled. Because water is a key input in agriculture, energy, and industry, water shortages and variability can lead to food insecurity, raise production costs, and constrain productivity growth."

It's in emerging market countries that the risks of serious conflict over water resources loom largest. Nations such as China, India and Pakistan have underdeveloped infrastructure, making it tough to increase supply through desalination or to transport water from where it is to where it's most needed.

In November, China's Xinhua news agency reported that 60 percent of the country's groundwater is classified as "bad" or "very bad," and that 17 of the nation's 31 major freshwater lakes are slightly to moderately polluted. Three hundred of China's 657 major cities are at risk of water shortages, including the North China region that includes Beijing and Tianjin.

China's efforts to move water to its arid north from the south of the country aren't alleviating water shortages, a University of East Anglia study has found:

But if China instead were to build more dams on rivers that flow into India and Pakistan, it could lead to conflict. A better solution, according to the IMF, is to use the price of water to subdue demand, and to stop allowing public subsidies to distort the market:

"Water should not be a free good -- the laws of demand and supply tell us that underpricing leads to overuse and undersupply. Water use is found to negatively correlate with water cost, suggesting a role for price signals to rationalize water consumption. Public utilities in many countries set water prices below the cost recovery level, creating incentives for overuse and underinvestment."

Source: Bloomberg View

Read More Related Content On This Topic - Click Here

Media

Taxonomy

• Scarcity
• Drought
• Water Losses