Conflicting uses of water

Name(s): 
Disputes over water rights
Water conflicts
Water wars
Nature 
***.
Background 
Globally, sectoral demands on water are agriculture 85%, industry 10% and domestic 5%.
Incidence 
According to a 1999 report, corporations have started to sue governments in order to gain access to domestic water sources. For example, Sun Belt, a California company, was suing the government of Canada under NAFTA because British Columbia banned water exports several years before. The company claimed that B.C.'s law violated several NAFTA-based investor rights and therefore was claiming $220 million in compensation for lost profits.

Malaysia, which supplies about half of Singapore's water, threatened to cut off that supply in 1997 after Singapore criticized its government policies. In Africa, relations between Botswana and Namibia have been severely strained by Namibian plans to construct a pipeline to divert water from the shared Okavango River to eastern Namibia. There are potential water wars in the Middle East, where water resources are severely limited. The late King Hussein of Jordan once said the only thing he would go to war with Israel over was water because Israel controls Jordan's water supply.

Claim 
The wars of the next century will be about water.
Type 
(F) Fuzzy exceptional problems