Water Wars: A New Reality for Business and Governments

Oct 6, 2014 | Oliver Balch, The Guardian
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During his reign from 2,450-2,400BC, King of Lagash set about building boundary canals around his territory. The result was a gradual reduction in the water flowing to nearby Umma (modern-day Iraq). Fisticuffs followed.

Violent tensions over water are certainly nothing new, but they are on the rise. “We see thousands of years of examples where water has been a source of tension in one form or another … but violence related to water is growing, not shrinking”, says Peter Gleick, president of the Pacific Institute, an independent US research centre that publishes a chronology of water-related conflicts.