Water Security is National Security, Economic Security, Disaster Preparedness, and Resilience

We know so little about water, but we are experts at defiling it. Water has memory so I won’t partake of any water Bill Gates makes out of poop.?We have enough to worry about with forever chemicals (PFAS) in municipal drinking water.?According to the tap water database, some of us should be glowing in the dark. That sounds like a joke, but when you ask the folks in West Texas about plutonium in their water, it is no laughing matter. Ask them what does earthquakes and radioactive water have in common?

This morning I was having a conversation about the Mississippi River drying up, and I was informed that the Great Lakes was also having challenges. At 57, this is the first time in my life that all major river systems in the United States of America was low, mainly the Mississippi River, Colorado River, and the Great Lakes.?But the reality is much worse than just the USA. Major river systems around the world are drying up simultaneously. Which brings me to my main point: water security is national security.

The world’s rivers are drying up from extreme weather https://www.cnn.com/2022/08/20/world/rivers-lakes-drying-up-drought-climate-cmd-intl/index.html

National Security

Droughts cause wars and climate migrations.?It’s been long held that the Syria Civil War was caused by a 10-year drought. But did you know that climate change and drought caused, prolonged or made worse, the following conflicts: ISIS Invasion of Iraq, Yemen Civil War, South Sudan Conflict, and Libyan Civil War.

“Before the war began,?an extraordinary drought?caused 75% of Syria's farms to fail and 85% of livestock to die between 2006 and 2011,?according to the United Nations. That drought also triggered a wave of migrants searching for jobs in urban areas, spreading instability throughout the country.” – Joe McCarthy, Global Citizen

5 Recent Conflicts That Were Made Worse By Climate Change https://www.globalcitizen.org/en/content/conflicts-affected-by-climate-change/

So, when you hear politicians in the US using the southern border as a political football, the migration from Central and South America is not going to stop. It is going to increase.?It does not matter what any politician says, migrants will come in droves.?It does not matter the nationality, if you are hungry and thirsty, the human animal will go to where the food and water is available. There’s no fence too high, no tunnel too low for the motivated human animal to seek food, water, and shelter.

The joke is, we also have water challenges in the USA. We suffer from water toxicity and drought. The average American must learn the difference between safe and legal.?What is safe to put in your body, and what is legal for corporations to put in your body. Across this great nation of ours, corporations bribed a government official to set legal limits to poison the citizens. There’s no sugar coating this. It is plain as the nose on your face.

If you don’t think you are being poisoned, type in your zip code here: https://www.ewg.org/tapwater/

Who is monitoring bottled water? Can we afford the carbon footprint of shipping heavy bottled water around the world from Fiji or Atlanta? I’m not even going to talk about single-use plastic bottles. That deserves its own blog. I do wonder if there are studies about the affects of plastic leaching into our bottled drinking water. Do they cause cancers and hormone disruption? I digress…

So, the solution in my opinion is to address the water challenges here and south of the border. Helping ourselves and our neighbors. It’s not going to stop climate migration, but it will take some of the stress off the southern border. We must stop ignoring the water situation and proactively address it.

Economic Security

I was once talking to a potential investor about investing in our company, SkyH2O.?In his words, the GDP of water is 0.78%! I told him all other industries will not survive without water. If you think the price of gas and inflation is a problem, wait until the droughts affect crops, create wars, and food shortages. What will the economy look like then?

The World Bank Key Findings:

·??????Water scarcity, exacerbated by climate change, could cost some regions up to 6% of their GDP, spur migration, and spark conflict.

·??????The combined effects of growing populations, rising incomes, and expanding cities will see demand for water rising exponentially, while supply becomes more erratic and uncertain.

·??????Unless action is taken soon, water will become scarce in regions where it is currently abundant - such as Central Africa and East Asia - and scarcity will greatly worsen in regions where water is already in short supply - such as the Middle East and the Sahel in Africa. These regions could see their growth rates decline by as much as 6% of GDP by 2050 due to water-related impacts on agriculture, health, and incomes.

·??????Water insecurity could multiply the risk of conflict. Food price spikes caused by droughts can inflame latent conflicts and drive migration. Where economic growth is impacted by rainfall, episodes of droughts and floods have generated waves of migration and spikes in violence within countries.

·??????The negative impacts of climate change on water could be neutralized with better policy decisions, with some regions standing to improve their growth rates by up to 6% with better water resource management.

·??????Improved water stewardship pays high economic dividends. When governments respond to water shortages by boosting efficiency and allocating even 25% of water to more highly valued uses, such as more efficient agricultural practices, losses decline dramatically and for some regions may even vanish.

·??????In the world’s extremely dry regions, more far-reaching policies are needed to avoid inefficient water use. Stronger policies and reforms are needed to cope with deepening climate stresses.

·??????Policies and investments that can help lead countries to more water secure and climate-resilient economies include:

o??Better planning for water resource allocation

o??Adoption of incentives to increase water efficiency, and

o??Investments in infrastructure for more secure water supplies and availability.

High and Dry: Climate Change, Water, and the Economy https://www.worldbank.org/en/topic/water/publication/high-and-dry-climate-change-water-and-the-economy

NOTE: I am not against corporations. I believe in the free enterprise system. I am what you call a tree hugging capitalist. I believe in the triple bottom-line: people, planet, profit.?But if you come to my house and you make a mess, you better clean it up. Planet earth is my home and ya’ll got some work to do. You feel me?

Disaster Preparedness and Resilience

To the emergency management professionals, city officials, hospitals and first responders. It is time to acknowledge that you have been busier than usual. Due to an overabundance of moisture in the air, the storms are more severe. We have entered the flood and drought cycle. ?As I am writing this blog, the City of Austin TX is in the middle of a FEMA flood alert. Time to be proactive about climate change and water stress. Whenever there is a natural disaster the first thing to go is potable drinking water.?I suggest mandating backup water solutions like rain capture and atmospheric water generation as a tool in your arsenal to help the citizens in your local area.?We mandate backup energy solutions, and backup water solutions are just as important.

Climate change is a fact. Natural disasters are a fact. It is a NOT IF, BUT WHEN scenario?

SkyH2O Station VIDEO: https://youtu.be/3a5R7IDCP-w

About SkyH2O

At SkyH2O we create clean water from the air! SkyH2O is advancing and scaling atmospheric water generation for industrial-scale commercial and government projects. More cost-effective and environmentally safer than desalination. Like solar, it takes from nature what nature provides without exhaust or toxic aftermath. https://skyh2o.com/