Social Analysis
Water As an Ideological Force
As “a key catalyst for socioeconomic development,” water has become not only a resource but an ideology too. From an economic standpoint, water acts as a “sampling device” that nations use to gauge the ruling ambitions and technological skills of other countries and even themselves. The idea that water equates to power is at the basis of our present-day economy, which is driven by materialism, or the quantity of resources possessed. Therefore, because of this ideology of water, and its vitality as a resource, the more water a country has, the more global power the country gains.
As a source of national and regional power and conflict, water is a major player in global politics and economics. Yet, as a source of power, water also generates anxiety and social distress. As the global population grows rapidly, countries do not have the resource capacity to supply water to everyone. Therefore, as water becomes more scarce, its value increases. Yet, as water becomes an unnecessary expense, the lower class can not afford it, which causes conflict within countries such as war, and large Western corporations to take the already dwindling water supply of third-world countries.
Root Causes
Climate Change
Climate change exacerbates the number of people without clean drinking water. The amount of usable freshwater on the Earth is already incredibly low at only 0.5 percent of all water globally. Unfortunately, climate change is dangerously decreasing the already limited supply by 1 centimeter per year over the past twenty years.
Additionally, because the glaciers are melting, water availability decreases in the major mountain ranges, specifically during warm and dry periods. As more than one-sixth of the global population lives in these mountain ranges, the inhabitants will suffer and will have to eventually move once there is not enough water.
Similarly, as salinization of groundwater is expected to extend as sea levels rise, there will be less freshwater for humans and ecosystems living in coastal areas. Therefore, these humans and ecosystems will also have to move if there is not enough freshwater for their survival, or else there will be fatal consequences.
The Global Economy
As water is a finite resource growing in demand, a global resource-intensive economy continues to develop. As the global population increases in a materialistic economy, water becomes more scarce, especially for the lower class. In a materialistic economy, the quantity of resources a country has equates to prosperity. However, many third-world countries lack water resources and infrastructure and fail to meet the accelerating demand.
Additionally, there is an imbalance of water needed compared to the actual amount of water available globally, with the amount of water needed by the economy yet a decrease in water available due to climate change. As economic growth is a “thirsty business,” many third-world countries lack the money and resources to keep up with the accelerating demand, especially as large Western corporations, such as Coca-Cola, Google, and the bottled water industry, use their dwindling water resources.
The graph above shows the significant increase of the cost of water for food prices, water and sewage rates, and all items consisting of water by percentage from roughly from 2010 to 2018. Overall, the water and sewage prices had an increase of 60% in cost, and the food prices and all items had about a 20% increase in cost each. Therefore, as water grows more scarce within society and powerful to the economy, its cost drastically increases.