To what extent are resource conflicts over oil and over water Essay

To what extent are resource conflicts over oil and over water comparable or dissimilar Aim to develop both domestic and interna - Essay Example The main feature of this disparity has been that developed world is marked by â€Å"overconsumption† of resources, including water (Young, Dooge and Rodda, 1994, p.2). 3.1. History of Water Wars In contradiction to the over-consumption of resources by developed nations, it is revealed, â€Å"one billion people in low- and middle-income countries lack access to safe water for drinking† (Mullerat, 2009, p.197). It is also a fact that â€Å"80% of all diseases and over one third of deaths in developing countries are caused by the consumption of contaminated water† (Young, Dooge and Rodda, 1994, p.11). To put this whole scenario in simple words, developed countries have less water (because of urbanization) but they over-consume, while the developing countries have more water but it is contaminated or inaccessible to the low- and middle-income groups. Another important point to note is that water is not just a resource that is necessary for humans to exist, but also i s a resource that has become â€Å"the basis for development† (Young, Dooge and Rodda, 1994, p.11). Now, if we look into the major water wars that have raged in the past and the present, the Palestine-Israel conflict, The Indo-Pak Siachen Glacier conflict, the Iraq-Syria standoff of 1975, the Turkey-Syria impasse of 1989, conflicts among the â€Å"ten riparian states of the Nile river†, and the Texas-Mexico conflict of 1992 come to the fore (Starr, 1991; Nolan, 1994, p.465; Johnson and Turner, 2009, p.459; Wolf, 1998, p.251). All these disputes had erupted based on the water needs and developmental aspirations of the involved nations. No direct corporate involvement was visible in any of these conflicts. But now the picture is slightly changing as local water conflicts have been... The US Scene At intra-state level, the conflicts are worsening as is seen in the United States itself. The supply of drinking water to the people by the government was started in the US as early as in the beginning of 20th century (Ridgeway, 2004, p.1). This was implemented by taking over the rights over water sources from private entities (Ridgeway, 2004, p.1). But the contradiction of history has been that once again, the water sources of US have come under the control of private corporate companies. And even the municipality water supplies that remain are getting polluted by industrial waste, produced by corporate houses (Ridgeway, 2004, p.2). On the other hand, community level conflicts have been emerging in US for the rights over water. For example, the Native Americans have raised their voices to assert their rights over water (Weinberg, 1997, p.8). There are also conflicts existing â€Å"between agricultural, urban, environmental and tribal uses of water† in the US (Weinberg, 1997, p.8). California’s central valley that is host to mega water projects has become an environmental hotpot caused by draught and water scarcity (Weinberg, 1997, p.9). Diversion of water into urban use from agrarian use has become a matter of dispute (Ridgeway, 2004, p.9). Another water conflict erupted in the Pacific Northwest â€Å"over how to manage the flow of the Columbia and the Snake rivers† (Weinberg, 1997, p.9). There is also water dispute existing between upper river basin and lower river basin of Colorado River (Weinberg, 1997, p.10). All these conflicts have been between the communities and the corporate or gove rnment level managers of water.

As an ecologically concerned engineer or anthropologist, critically Essay

As an ecologically concerned engineer or anthropologist, critically assess the current Japanese nuclear disaster using academica - Essay Example The Fukushima Daiichi facility was apparently unable to withstand the dual shocks of the earthquake and tsunami within a short timeframe and entered into a situation which can be described as nuclear meltdown of the reactors. The information about the Fukushima disaster was initially limited and possibly misrepresented by TEPCO and Japanese government administrators in order to downplay publicly the degree of seriousness of the situation, and this has led to difficulties in academic or public verification of the ecological and social threats that the meltdown portends for Japan. It is not overestimating the situation to state that in the worst instance a significant portion of Japan could have become uninhabitable due to the disaster, and currently there is an evacuation zone in effect around the facility. This essay will examine the ongoing nature of the Fukushima Disaster, highlighting the fact that the facility may still not have been properly brought under control and the degree of uncertainty that exists because of this in determining the over-all consequences of the event. The Fukushima Nuclear Disaster There is now little doubt that a full nuclear meltdown occurred at the Fukushima nuclear plant in Japan this year. According to Julian Ryall in an article published in the Telegraph as "Nuclear meltdown at Fukushima plant" (12 May 2011), â€Å"Engineers from the Tokyo Electric Power company (Tepco) entered the No.1 reactor at the end of last week for the first time and saw the top five feet or so of the core's 13ft-long fuel rods had been exposed to the air and melted down. Previously, Tepco believed that the core of the reactor was submerged in enough water to keep it stable and that only 55 per cent of the core had been damaged. Now the company is worried that the molten pool of radioactive fuel may have burned a hole through the bottom of the containment vessel, causing water to leak. ’We will have to revise our plans,’ said Junichi Matsu moto, a spokesman for Tepco. ‘We cannot deny the possibility that a hole in the pressure vessel caused water to leak’. Tepco has not clarified what other barriers there are to stop radioactive fuel leaking if the steel containment vessel has been breached. Greenpeace said the situation could escalate rapidly if ‘the lava melts through the vessel’.† (2011: p.1) One of the problems with the design of the Fukushima plant is that it had been storing depleted nuclear fuel rods on the same site as the reactor, cooled with water. After becoming exposed, this fuel may have added to the critical mass of the meltdown reaction and also caused additional radiation to be released into the environment during the initial period of the disaster. The additional force of this reaction may have been sufficient to burn or melt through the very bottom containment layer of the reactor itself, the final protection layer that prevents a meltdown lava flow from entering the l ocal environmental system through the earth and water systems. The use of sea water to flood and cool the reactor following the meltdown has inevitably led to groundwater radiation being released into