Water Is the New Oil

A new study has been released documenting the projected sustainability of America's freshwater resources by the year 2050.   The conclusion is that 70% of American counties will experience water shortages by 2050 with about 30% suffering severe to extreme water shortages.   The map below shows those parts of America expected to be hardest hit.

Read the full report here.

Meanwhile, tens of thousands of Egyptians have taken to the streets to protest water shortages.   This comes at a time when Egypt is locked in a dispute with countries of the Nile headwaters over entitlement to that resource.  From IRIN:

“Water scarcity will be even worse in the future,” Riad Aldamk, head of a water studies project at Cairo College of Engineering, told IRIN.



He said Egypt’s total water consumption had increased by 17 percent in the last five years, according to studies conducted by the college. Hotter summers were partly to blame.


A recent report by the state-run Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS) said annual water resources would decline by 15.2 billion cubic metres by 2017 - from a required 86.2 billion cubic metres to a projected 71.4 billion cubic metres.


The report said Egypt, where average per capita consumption was 700 cubic metres of water a year - was one of 15 Arab countries under the global water scarcity mark of 1,000 cubic metres per capita. The global average is 6,750 cubic metres per person annually.