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Thursday, March 31, 2005

Oil Price Problem is really a Water Issue

Recently, one of the hydrolic engineering professors spoke to a class of mine. He was working with an organization in Israel trying to secure water for the palistinian people. Basically, the organization consisted of the Palestinian Water Authority, the Isreali Water Authority, and some outside engineers and other professionals. Despite working for months, nothing ever came of it because no one was willing to budge or comprimise. (namely the idea was to fix leaking pipes and transfer the water saved to the palestinians.) As I was thinking about it, I came across this article by Fred Singer. Basically he explains that there is no problem with supply of oil from the middle east except that they are normally at war. A peaceful middle east, brings good prices worldwide. Many of the fights in the middle east are started over water, like we say, "Wiskey is for drinking, water is for fighting."
The problem with water in the middle east is that no one is willing to compromise. It's the same type of issue we have with irrigation water. Privitization is one answer, but I believe that with help from outside sources(perhaps the UN or other world organizations) working with the local water authorities could help privide a solution without causing too much commotion. Although difficult, with time I feel like it would be successful.

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