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[jester]

Its late, and I may have read it wrong anyway, but people seem to think the water conflicts are about drinking water, they arent, they are more about water for agriculture (according to the israeli government, 56% of their water is used in agriculture), Id say its definately not a stretch to say it has already happened, the '67 war was partly caused by moves to redirect the river jordan which supplies most of israels water.  One of the major nastys the israelis are pulling on the palestinians is allocating them from 1/3 to 1/5 as much water as israelis then charging them for any extra they want.  Its this sort of stuff that, even if it isnt causing wars, is definitely getting people killed on a regular basis

[MetalSlimeHunt]

No, we're all well aware that most of the water is for agriculture. But if a water shortage is bad enough, it definitely can start to effect drinking water supplies. In fact, that's when things start to get really, really bad.

[mainiac]

I guess the question here is to what extent their economies will be able to sustain agricultural imports in the coming century.

I'm of two minds on this.  Pessimistically, the fate of these highly oil dependent economies is very much up in the air.  Optimistically, global poverty trends indicate a reasonably good picture a few decades from now.  The middle east should be richer and more stable then many regimes that are making progress in eliminating hunger.

[Zrk2]

Why don't you sell swathes of this and pay off your debt?

[Azkanan]

Waiting for that border line in North America to appear...

In b4 Mexico/Canada being pointed out ;-;

[jester]

No, we're all well aware that most of the water is for agriculture. But if a water shortage is bad enough, it definitely can start to effect drinking water supplies. In fact, that's when things start to get really, really bad.

Sorry, as I say, its late (5am), the point I meant to make was that any sort of desal program will never be able to produce enough clean water for agriculture, drinking yes, not farming though. 

  Other big issue is that the people in the middle east who do have good water access are using it to farm tropical type fruits like mangos and the like that are a very thirsty crops.  But yeah, cutting down on peoples drinking water is a great way to have people throw stuff at you

[Africa]

Yeah, Israel's fruit farming industry is a big water drain. At some point they're going to have to realize that they're essentially exporting drinking water. Not to mention all the water they spray on their lawns to keep them green year-round. Every time I saw a green lawn over there in high summer I had to flinch at how much the people in some West Bank village a few miles away could have used that water for drinking or washing.

[Nadaka]

No, we're all well aware that most of the water is for agriculture. But if a water shortage is bad enough, it definitely can start to effect drinking water supplies. In fact, that's when things start to get really, really bad.

Sorry, as I say, its late (5am), the point I meant to make was that any sort of desal program will never be able to produce enough clean water for agriculture, drinking yes, not farming though. 

  Other big issue is that the people in the middle east who do have good water access are using it to farm tropical type fruits like mangos and the like that are a very thirsty crops.  But yeah, cutting down on peoples drinking water is a great way to have people throw stuff at you

Yes, you can desalinate enough water for agriculture. You just need to use highly water efficient agriculture combined with dedicating enough gigawatts of power to desalination.

[MetalSlimeHunt]

Although successfully determining how to accomplish low-energy desalination would be a far more efficient solution.

[RedWarrior0]

What I'd do is fill up those oil tankers with water for the return trip. Problem solved.

[jester]

What I'd do is fill up those oil tankers with water for the return trip. Problem solved.

U trollin?

Other problem with desal is what to do with all the salt afterwards, current wisdom is just pumping it back into the sea has no effect on the local area.  I really cant see that being the case if you are processing 100s of gigalitres of sea water a day.

[MetalSlimeHunt]

I'm sure we could find a use for massive amounts of salt.

[Darvi]

Solar power?

[Akura]

Solar power?

Which can then be used to desalinate more water.

[Zangi]

Don't we have salt mines for a reason?  Or is sea water salt different then mined salt?