Fleck has a great post on water wars:

It is still important that the popular myth of water wars somehow be dispelled once and for all. This will not only stop unsettling and incorrect predictions of international conflict over water. It will also discourage a certain public resignation that climate change will bring war, and focus attention instead on what politicians can do to avoid it: most importantly, improve the conditions of trade for developing countries to strengthen their economies. And it would help to convince water engineers and managers, who still tend to see water shortages in terms of local supply and demand, that the solutions to water scarcity and security lie outside the water sector in the water/food/trade/economic development nexus. It would be great if we could unclog our stream of thought about the misleading notions of ‘water wars’.

I left this comment:

There’s no sense fighting wars over water because it’s too damn heavy to move around (as booty) or control (vs. diamonds or oil). Back to the cost-benefit table.

OTOH, I would also say that water cooperation is more predictable than water wars b/c civilization is FOUNDED on water cooperation (e.g., public fountains), and those that cannot cooperate dry up and die b/c they cannot protect their water sources. When it comes to neighbors, cooperation is better than fighting b/c NEITHER side is served by destroying the water supply (very easy) in a conflict.

Finally, it’s that old moral question: Is it better to cooperate over water or fight and harm each other? I think that most humans KNOW that water is precious and that denying water to others is the lowest form of behavior.

Keep up the debunking!

Bottom Line: Politicians (and reporters) love the “water wars” meme, but let’s stop talking nonsense and get to the real problems: corruption, for example.