There is a broad consensus, in these times, as we enter the third decade of the 25st century, in relation to the growing difficulties in accessing drinking water—or, failing that, fresh water—in large regions of the planet. The numbers speak for themselves. More than 15% of the world's population has serious difficulties accessing the vital liquid for at least one month a year; and 7%, throughout the year. Let's see more: out of every ten people, one of them – mostly women or girls – travels up to XNUMX km a day to provide themselves with water; Every year, up to two million people, mainly boys and girls, die from diarrhea due to consuming low-quality water.
On the other hand, of all the water that is available on the planet, 97% is in the seas and only 3% is fresh water. Of this small percentage of fresh water, the majority is found in solid state, in glaciers and polar caps. The water we consume and that keeps many ecosystems functioning is no more than 0.5% of global water. It should be noted that, regardless of its existence in the form of rivers, lakes or aquifers, there are numerous reports that place it in a state of disappearance or highly contaminated. In other words: there is less and less fresh water for the human population and for the fabric of life, in general.
It is no less true that this information has been with us for decades, generally disseminated with very painful images of African countries; Perhaps, for this reason, the water crisis is associated with a condition of extreme regional poverty, and there is some truth. As confirmed by the British Geological Survey a decade ago, the African continent, like other continental masses, has important aquifers, that is, bodies of water that are confined or have very slow drainage, which lie beneath the surface rocky mantle. Thus the problem is presented to us as merely technological.
It is necessary to note that, of the limited proportion of fresh water available for human activity, a high percentage is in the form of groundwater, distant from the human eye, elusive to knowing and tasting; therefore, difficult to study and take advantage of; Like a vein of precious mineral, underground water is more of a mystery than a certainty.
But, if it is about technologies, challenges and certainties, let's approach Mecca: in this case, the southwest of the United States. This region – which covers the states of Arizona, Utah, New Mexico, Nevada and California – has a high water dependence on underground systems, especially for domestic and agricultural use. On the other hand, these five states, along with Colorado and Wyoming, have a heated discussion over access fees for Colorado River water. The point is that both water sources are running out, and the united states falters in times of scarcity. Recent reports warn that thousands of wells used to extract groundwater have dropped more than 50 m; For those in the know, these are large numbers in technology and costs, as well as a clear reflection of the depletion of aquifers, exposed to more outputs (water extraction) than inputs (recharge by infiltration).
Experts warn that technology is closely related to this dramatic situation in the northern country. It is becoming easier to acquire more and more powerful water pumps, which allow greater volumes of water to be extracted per unit of time and/or access to greater depths. This technological reality, in a liberal political environment, has left regulations and legal restrictions incapable of promoting a sustainable water management scenario. Added to this scenario is the existence of an intensive agricultural model, widespread in the region, with very high levels of water consumption, which irrationally includes crops such as rice, cotton and alfalfa, which stand out for their water demands. In fact, as a result of technology and enormous amounts of energy, it has been possible to transfer water from the Colorado River to vast expanses of agricultural land and cities in the seven states immersed in the dispute.
This dehydrated reality of one of the most thriving regions in the United States is about to get complicated. As a consequence of climate change, the Colorado River has been exposed for decades to a marked drought, which has reduced its flow by up to 20% since 2001; It is even estimated that, by 2050, its flow will be reduced by up to 40%. For its part, the ice associated with the mountains is increasingly thinner and, in summer, surface temperatures are higher and remain for more days. Such phenomena, in combination, ostensibly affect the recharge of the aquifers in the region and the surface waters of the Colorado River basin. It will not be many years before the news about the water crisis, along with scenes from Africa, includes the southwest hightech U.S..
Circumnavigating half the globe, we come across another dry reality. Iran is a semi-arid country: about half of the territory has rainfall of less than 300 mm annually and almost the entire territory is below 600 mm. The population of this technological giant is close to 90 million inhabitants, and like the United States, it has a very uncertain near future with respect to access to water. The provinces of Fars, Khorasan Razavi, Isfahan, Kerman and Markazi are characterized by high agricultural activity strongly dependent on groundwater. Other provinces—which, historically, have taken advantage of surface water runoff—have seen a decrease of more than 40% in the last three decades. Many experts affirm that food production, the main user of surface and underground water sources, is seriously threatened; 43% of the republic's food depends on aquifers. The overexploitation of underground water bodies also carries the risks of extracting brackish or mineral-rich waters that can contribute to the salinization of agricultural soils, and even to their contamination; If something has become clear in this matter, it is that it is very complex and expensive to know when an aquifer is being depleted (only the precautionary principle should take precedence). In the Persian country, it has been estimated that there are more than 650 thousand wells, and it is the central basins of the country that have the greatest demand for groundwater. This water fragility has favored the extensive technological development of desalination plants, mainly in the southern region. Given the advantages of being an oil-producing country, desalination plants obtain the energy necessary for their operation from the burning of fossil fuels. Currently, as a consequence of the depletion of the decimated surface channels and the aquifers in the phase of depletion, the State has launched a massive initiative to build water desalination plants to supply 45 million people; Without a doubt, a powerful technological challenge.
This Asian nation must face a complex reality: depletion of underground water bodies; reduction of surface flows; border conflicts with Pakistan (to the east) and with Iraq (to the west), over the shared use of both rivers; added to the increasing surface temperatures that increase evapotranspiration and, therefore, the net loss of water and the decrease in precipitation, as a consequence of the planetary environmental crisis. This combination of factors suggests that a food crisis is brewing. To date, as in the United States, the solutions at hand are technological; In other words, by the way, they are the same technologies from decades ago, with nuances of innovation. In both cases, the solutions contribute massively to worsening the climate crisis which, behind the curtains of irrational agricultural models, only predicts migration and famine.
We see that digging, deeply, searching for the precious liquid, like miners after the noise, is easier and more dangerous when poverty is not at your side, and you are supported by the technology of unlimited "development." This flight forward, with the technologies of the capitalist imaginary, anchored to the burden of "development", no longer allows us to elucidate between illusion and reality. Definitely, faith in modern/colonial/capitalist technology is what is killing us. As the Bolivian decolonial philosopher Rafael Bautista states, «the improvement that “development” promotes is aparente, because it is an improvement through the accumulation of satisfiers, which have the character of infinity that the myth from which it is based gives it: “infinite progress.” Therefore, it does not translate into an improvement qualitative and what is shown, as an improvement, is a foolish race to have it all. Is aparente, because it does not improve the life, not even of the beneficiary, because he/she also intends to fulfill abstract goals that never end. […] The apostolate that originates the consciousness of having understood where this senseless race leads to which humanity is thrown collides with that: you cannot argue with a suicide.
Thus, thinking deeply, perhaps, is an invitation to stop digging deeply and to stop that senseless race encouraged by a religiosity that encourages, in an idolatrous and heroic way, the permanent commitment to science and technology that today costs us a crisis. coiled, without further ado, around the neck.
