Water security-National and global issues

National Research Program

Potable or clean freshwater availability is crucial to life and economic, environmental, and social systems. The amount of freshwater is finite and makes up approximately 2.5 percent of all water on the Earth (fig. 1). Freshwater supplies are small and randomly distributed, so water resources can become points of conflict. Freshwater availability depends upon precipitation patterns, changing climate, and whether the source of consumed water comes directly from desalination, precipitation, or surface and(or) groundwater. At local to National levels, difficulties in securing potable water sources increase with growing populations and economies. Available water improves living standards and drives urbanization, which increases average water consumption per capita.

Commonly, disruptions in sustainable supplies and distribution of potable water and conflicts over water resources become major security issues for Government officials. Disruptions are often influenced by land use, human population, use patterns, technological advances, environmental impacts, management processes and decisions, transnational boundaries, and so forth.

Water security is a critical factor in Government planning. However, the decisions of water-security professionals are complicated by an uneven global distribution of freshwater (fig. 1), and local to regional freshwater deficits are caused when extraction exceeds available recharge—sustainability. When water supply falls below 1,700 m per person per year (about 123 gallons per person per day), which is considered minimum need (United Nations Development Programme, 2006), the source of supply is considered stressed. The demand for water grows fastest in areas of the world experiencing freshwater scarcity. Adding further stress to quality of life issues are inadequate sanitary living conditions and contaminated water, which can result in cancer, liver and kidney damage or failure, nervous system disorders, damage to the immune system, birth defects, and water-borne diseases (United Nations, 2010). Additionally, certain naturally occurring water-borne chemicals are suspect carcinogens, such as arsenic in Bangladesh and West Bengal, India, where problems associated with high arsenic levels arose due to switching from surface- to groundwater sources. Generally, areas of high-density populations stress water resources. Adding to this problem, population is increasing in areas where natural hazards—earthquakes, hurricanes, floods, and droughts—are most severe (Hinrichsen and others, 1997). Such natural hazards can disrupt potable water distribution and destabilize population centers.

World

Presently, millions of people lack access to adequate potable water supplies, and Government officials are unable to appropriately manage and assess water resources owing to insufficient information and expertise. The United Nations (2003) states that approximately one billion people are deprived of potable water due to mismanagement and depletion of water resources (fig. 2). If people are deprived of water, it is likely that water needed for food production is limited, if not absent, leading to increased water-resource conflicts and negative effects on security (Tindall, 2008). Without proper prioritization of water use, production of sufficient food to meet the demands of global population growth could be more challenging. Unfortunately, unsustainable potable water supplies are becoming a global trend, especially in large urbanized areas, often leading to water-use conflicts. Water shortages and increasing conflicts between supplies, distribution, and use and management signify the need to develop and implement processes for mitigating water-security issues.

United States

Because most future population growth in the United States is projected to be in water-stressed areas, demand (fig. 3) and distribution could remain a problem. Irrigation requires about 34 percent of U.S. water supplies (table 1). Other uses include thermoelectric powerplant cooling, which returns water back to the environment (Hutson and others, 2004).

Water-security strategies depend upon appropriately developed and implemented water-management plans and practices that are best developed in concert. Also, water-management practices necessary for water security include plans for potable-water sustainability, proper wastewater- and waste-disposal methods, distribution, water-use priorities, and water-resource development.

Developing Countries

Water-management practices designed to improve water supplies can be restricted by disparate water distribution, poor infrastructure, insufficient water quantity and quality, and excessive cost issues. Nevertheless, developing appropriate practices is vital if public health and quality of life are to improve while reducing security, economic, and political concerns (Tindall and Campbell, 2009; United Nations, 2003). In this regard, local and national water-security strategies can improve foreign relations as related to transboundary water disputes and nationalist, minority, and ethnic aspirations of a State.

Development and mitigation of water-security processes follow the Water Threats and Hazards Triad (WTHT) and represent common types of hazards affecting water supply and sustainability (table 2). As an example, an occurrence of a WTHT component against critical water infrastructures could prove disastrous to water supply and sustainability from a local to regional or national level (Tindall and Campbell, 2009). From a Homeland Security perspective, an evaluation of these three primary hazards reveals risks and vulnerabilities to the population at large: a net assessment—“all hazards” approach—in addressing water security and protecting finite potable-water resources against various threats. The WTHT components are a pressing concern for public (Government) and private (corporate) officials.

Figure 3. Total U.S. water withdrawals since 1950 (Source: Hutson and others, 2004). Since 1950, per capita water use has declined.

Terrorism—A Manmade Hazard

Manmade threats currently are a major concern. Officials dedicate much time and effort to prevent attacks on exposed infrastructure. For example, an attack on Hoover Dam could affect water and power availability in the Western United States and denotes why the U.S. Intelligence Community is concerned about these types of possibilities.

Enhanced technology complications, such as operations controlled by Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) valves that can be operated over the Internet, make water systems more vulnerable. Similar types of controls/valves are used in the electrical power grid and nuclear plants, where nuclear power generation requires water for cooling. to remove debris, replace culverts, build sediment dams, and seed slopes for restoration (Robichaud and others, 2003). Further, deforestation of hillsides by fire promotes flooding and debris flow during wet periods that affect water quality.

Contaminants—Heavy rains and flooding could create particularly severe water contamination problems that can be fatal. E-coli infiltrated water pipes following torrential rains in Walkterton, Ontario, Canada; 7 people died and more than 2,300 became seriously ill after contracting food poisoning from the bacteria (Vicente and Christoffersen, 2006). In 1993, dozens died and an estimated 400,000 developed chronic illnesses due to the parasite Cryptosporidium, which contaminated the water supply of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, after heavy rainfall (Corso and others, 2003).

Climate Change—Water-security strategies need also to consider events related to extreme drought. In 1995, a severe drought extended from central, eastern, and western Texas and New Mexico into Arizona and parts of California, Nevada, Utah, Colorado, Oklahoma, and Kansas. Water restrictions increased in many cities, forcing residents to cut usage about 25 percent; winter wheat conditions in 19 States were poor; wind and insect damage significantly affected crops; a shortage of hay throughout the region reached disastrous proportions, forcing ranchers to sell cattle at the lowest prices in 10 years; and agricultural losses for cotton, wheat, feed grains, cattle, and corn and agriculturally related industries such as harvesting, trucking, and food processing in Texas alone reached $5 billion (Wilhite and Vanyarkho, 1999). Reduced supplies of irrigation water led to decreased vegetable production with related job and income losses; food prices increased as much as 22 percent in response to the lower production levels for milk, meat, produce, and other foodstuffs; and prices for gasoline, diesel, and liquefied petroleum rose 15 percent above previous levels. Fires raged throughout the region and in Colorado alone burned 262,009 hectares (647,440 acres). Total regional drought effects were estimated at $10–15 billion, although it is difficult to quantify many social and environmental impacts (Wilhite and Vanyarkho, 1999).

Natural Threats to Water Security

Hurricanes—Hurricane Katrina (2005) caused large loss of life, ruptured levees, and led to serious water-quality consequences (Palser, 2007).

Earthquakes—Scientists predict a major earthquake will hit Los Angeles (Fialko, 2006), an event that could sever the Colorado River Aqueduct, and(or) the California Aqueduct supplying water from Lake Mead in Nevada. These two distribution systems supply potable water to 18 million residents within metropolitan Los Angeles.

Wildfires—The short- and long-term effects of wildfires are serious considerations for any water-security program. This may be particularly true in the United States after 100 years of fire suppression, where large fires have burned about 6,000,000 acres in drier years (National Interagency Fire Center, 2009). The Hayman fire in Colorado in 2002, the largest fire in Colorado’s history (138,000 acres), seriously degraded the water quality of Cheeseman and Strontia Springs Reservoirs—primary water sources for metropolitan Denver—requiring $8 million over 4 years

Technological Hazards

Technological hazards include, but are not limited to, biohazards and hazardous materials incidents and nuclear powerplant failures. Generally, little or no warning precedes these incidents. Victims may not know they have been affected until years later. For example, health problems caused by hidden toxic waste sites—Love Canal near Niagara Falls, New York—surfaced years after initial exposure (Heath, 1984). Perhaps the most well known example of a technological hazard is the Chernobyl nuclear reactor disaster, April 1986, in the Ukraine (International Nuclear Safety Advisory Group, 1992).

Hazards Interdependence

Understanding the complex interdependency of water with other life-support systems (critical infrastructures) is important. Certain types of energy generation are dependent on water; for example, Hoover Dam in the United States, Bhakra Nangal Dam in India, and nuclear powerplants.

International agencies such as the World Bank are well aware of the seriousness of water-security issues. Since ancient times, limiting access to water has been used as a weapon through the destruction of water resources and distribution facilities (Young, 2006). Water-use and actual or perceived ownership conflicts create social and political disorder and serious security risks to a region or a country, and international law has proven inadequate in defending the equal use of shared water supplies. Such conflicts can become zero-sum disputes involving cultural, tribal, religious, and regional and(or) transnational victims (Tindall and Campbell, 2009).

Water Security and USGS Activities

U.S. Agencies, such as the Department of Energy, Department of Defense, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA), and Department of Homeland Security, understand and acknowledge the importance of water security and the results of neglect to the Nation and individual States. These agencies link water security to critical infrastructure protection (CIP) and intelligence gathering capabilities (fig. 4) to develop a security strategy for water and other resources. In short, they merge the intelligence cycle (typified by the Human Intelligence [HUMINT] Cycle—upper right fig. 4) with water-resources data and information (provided by such agencies as the USGS), energy, and other fixed assets of critical infrastructure such as dams, water ways, and operations facilities (green circle, upper left). Although increasing in complexity, CIP also must consider detection, prevention, response, and mitigation as interdependent components of this process (center, fig. 4). Also considered must be the organization type in terms of structure to merge management and operations methods to the inclusive process (lower left, fig. 4). The overall process is highly complex.

As part of its mission, the USGS engages in efforts to improve the understanding and effective management of water resources around the globe to help address scientific and management concerns regarding water-resources supply, sustainability, protection, and security. The USGS investigates the complex interdependency of water with life-support systems such as power and energy, agriculture and food, and public health and how these are affected by natural disasters. These systems and(or) assets, vulnerable to the Triad threats and hazards, are essential for public health and safety, the functioning and sustainability of society, the economy, and the security of nations. In conjunction with its future science strategy (U.S. Geological Survey, 2007), the USGS continues to examine

interdependencies of ecosystem functions, energy and water, and integrated information (information coupled from numerous fields of science) that can be used to help develop solutions to water-security problems. The USGS can create new products, such as mathematical models, that can aid in increasing resource security and are useful for reducing loss of life and property, as well as environmental risks. This also considers the effect on and relations to other fields of science such as climatology, hydrology, ocean sciences, seismology, volcanology, geology, biology, and so forth.

Water security and sustainability problems related to climate change, desertification, growing populations, biodiversity, disparate water distribution, and distribution management and hazards, particularly wildfires, are increasing stress on global water supplies. Water conservation methods and technology such as dams, cloud seeding, desalination plants, and underground water storage may be insufficient to meet the demands of a growing global population. Because the water supply is finite, the potential for water-related conflicts are likely to increase and become more acute as demand increases (Tindall, 2008). The need for transboundary water sharing, which has been a constant source of contention since territorial times in the arid Western United States and recently in the drought-stricken Eastern United States (Dellapenna, 2005), is now a global issue.

The study and development of strategies and countermeasures to ensure water sustainability and security require a fusion of scientific and analytical skills and increased awareness by the public, resource managers, and Government entities. Programs including those promoting institutional capacity-building and networking, continuing professional education, and other activities targeting training and increasing the knowledge of citizens demonstrate the fusion of water availability and national security. The U.S. military is at the forefront of these issues and provides a high level of education and training, most notably at the U.S. Naval Postgraduate School’s Center for Homeland Defense and Security. National security planners, analysts, and agencies are increasingly studying the challenge of hazards and threats to water supplies and infrastructure from hazards and transnational terrorists (Copeland, 2009; Behrens and Holt, 2005). One example is the Water Infrastructure Security Enhancements (WISE) Project supported by the USEPA, an effort to get all water utilities serving populations of more than 3,300 to voluntarily perform

Perhaps the most advantageous approach to enhance water security is a local, regional, national, and global dialogue to address pertinent questions such as:

1. How do we best develop flexible and adaptable transboundary water-sharing policies and planning for hydrologic, political, and socioeconomic circumstances?
2. What are the interdependencies between water and energy, agriculture, ecosystems, biodiversity, conservation, and climate change?
3. How should long-term planning and policy account for these issues to ensure that competing users of water, especially energy and agriculture, have adequate supplies to continue regional and national economic growth?
4. Given the critical importance of water, what capacity and capabilities within the U.S. Government would be needed to address and manage national and international water-security policies, intelligence resource conflicts, and threats?
5. The primary threats to water security are population growth, terrorism, climate change (sustained droughts), and industrialization. These threats can be interdependent. What are the best procedures for developing comprehensive strategies to address them?
6. How can we achieve stakeholder cooperation between the Federal and private sectors for information sharing, vulnerability analysis, and risk assessment to improve sustainability? Few other issues affect the United States or the global community

so directly as water security. All are stakeholders for ensuring the sustainability and security of water supplies.

—By James A. Tindall and Andrew A. Campbell vulnerability and risk assessments and take preventive measures against possible attacks and other hazards.

The U.S. Government can provide world leadership on water security and sustainability issues through science, education, and international programs. Research activities of the USGS are well suited to solve many scientific, technical, and management problems encountered in this area. Universities and research institutes could further promote and develop water security as a distinct discipline, thus expanding public education. Intelligence agencies could be further tasked to integrate water-security issues and define them within the context of national security.

References

For more information, please contact: James A. Tindall, jtindall@usgs.gov U.S. Geological Survey, National Research Program Box 25046, MS 413 Denver, CO 80225-0046 Telephone: (303) 236-5005

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