Water crisis likely to replace oil as major concern of the future.(HEADLINE: Armada Corporate Intelligence)

Water is a somewhat strange commodity. In areas where it is scarce, it can provoke wars, while in regions where it is plentiful, it is taken for granted and, in some cases, wasted. It is also a commodity that provokes intense political and social debate between those who consider access to water to be a basic human right and those who assert that it is a commodity to be governed by the free market just as other necessities like food and energy are. The shifting patterns of the earth's climate have made water an even more critical issue than it has been in the past. The surprising aspect of this debate is that much of the discussion is still very subdued and rarely seems to get much media attention. The severe drought conditions in the United States have just started to provoke some real interest as Atlanta and other parts of Georgia face the prospect of running out of water. Crop yields are already being discounted for this year as it is anticipated that there will be insufficient winter precipitation to support a solid spring planting season in the U.S.

The U.S. may be just discovering the issue of water shortage, but the crisis has been developing at an accelerated rate throughout the rest of the world. Australia is going through the 12th straight year of a major drought and the impact on its farm sector has been nothing short of catastrophic. At this point, one third of the world's population lives in areas where water is scarce and it is estimated that by 2050 there will be less than half the existing current water supply in North Africa and the Middle East. Given that these countries are already facing severe water shortages, a reduction of 50% will make these regions close to uninhabitable. If there is water available in many parts of the world, it has become too polluted to use safely. It has been estimated that 1.8 million children die every year from water-borne disease and that number is expected to spike sharply in the years to come. The impact of climate change has yet to be fully understood, and it will doubtless keep shifting, but there continues to be evidence of major pattern shifts--much less water in some regions and too much in others. Over the past few years there have been more weather anomalies than usual and whether the cycle is manmade or natural, the pattern is expected to continue.

There are three key issues in terms of water that will require almost immediate attention, but it is very hard to figure out who will take responsibility and how the adjustments will be paid. The first is distribution. There is plenty of water in the world for everyone's needs, but some areas have an abundance, while others face a dearth. It is certainly not practical to flow the water from the U.S. Great Lakes to Africa, but there may be opportunities to bring that water to arid parts of the U.S. while water from ...