GLOBALIZATION AND THE NATURE OF THE WATER ENVIRONMENT

Historically, the development of communities near and on coastlines and river banks meant that populations were mobile, utilizing the waterways for travel and trade. The nearby fisheries served as an important component of the food supply, and rivers and lakes provided an abundance of fresh water. This interconnectedness between water and development of civilizations remains as important today as it was throughout history. Population growth correlates directly with increase in water use (Fig. 4.1) (much of this use is non-consumptive), and the water is generally returned to the environment in a poorer quality than it was when it was taken. Studies investigating the relationship between a country's economic status (gross national product, GNP) and water use have shown that, though there is little correlation between these variables within countries grouped by income ranges (low income, middle–lower, middle–higher, and high income), there is a clear relationship between economic development in the four broad categories and per capita water use (World Bank 2000) (Fig. 4.2).

Water resources are part of a global interconnectedness and interdependency and in many cases are now being viewed and will require management under the doctrine of scarcity. It is estimated that water shortages will affect 2.7 billion people in about 20 years, threatening the global food supply as well as the economies of the more than 50 countries where international boundaries in water basins have created a hydrogeopolitical setting (Gleick 1993; Shmueli 1999; World Water Council 2003).