Water

Water

            As a middle class American I don’t think I have ever worried about water in my life. Aside from excursions, I have never really been far from a faucet with seemingly unending water. The reality is this is a luxury taken for granted.  Looking into my own water footprint was actually quite difficult. As a boarding college student, facilities, transportation, dining service provided, and with no real income, many of the categories did not really apply or were up to interpretation when calculating my water usage.  With this in mind the only accurate statistic I could look at was my diet.

According to National Geographic I came in at 164 gallons/day over the American average

My score: 1,164

American average: 1,056

This did not really surprise me; to be frank as an athlete and food lover I eat a lot of food. However what did cause a shock was the comparison of general American consumption of water in one year to that of some MENA states.

https://infogr.am/app/#/edit/699623721_1381456697

Average water footprint of United States of America: 

2842 m³/yr per capita

Average water footprint of Iran, Islamic Rep of: 1866 m3/yr per capita

Average water footprint of Turkey: 1642 m3/yr per capita

Average water footprint of Syrian Arab Republic: 2107 m3/yr

From looking at this graph you can clearly see the dramatic difference between what the average American uses and some of the MENA states. Having access to more water as a state can have many implications. Water as essentially the most important resource on the planet affects the culture, politics and security of a state. Many academic thinkers have argued over the role water plays in International relations. I agree with the idea that water is simply too important to be fought over. It has more of a unifying effect than a disjoining one. Water is one of the very few things we cant live without, it’s something we all need and have in common. Something this important and crucial can be manipulated for selfish state reason, but by its basic nature I believe water is a force of unification above all else.