| Mehmet Murat BEKDİK | |
| Editor-in-Chief |
|
HOW PREPARED ARE WE FOR THE WATER CENTURY? |
In the same magazine, the relation of water and economy has been mentioned in the article of İrfan KALAYCI, Lecturer in the Department of Economy in İnönü University. KALAYCI emphasizes that water is the primary and unique fuel of natural and physical life. For this reason water is a substance that should be smartly used by humanbeing. Moreover, if you read the word of “su” reversely, you obtain the word of “us” that means mind. When we examine the physical and geographical distribution of water in the earth, we face the following facts:
1) 93 % of the water in the earth is salt water and 3 % of it is fresh water.
2) 79 % of the fresh water sources consists of icebergs in the poles, 20 % of deep underground waters and 1 % attainable waters.
3) The water that irrigates the liveable areas and refreshes people is 1 % of the 3 % of the total water cycle and its distribution is; lakes 52 %, soil humidity %38, 8 % water steam in the atmosphere, 1% rivers and streams and 1 % organic.
4) The proportion of rivers and streams to the total water amount is only 0,0003 %. However, 80 % of our drinking water is provided from these rivers and streams and the remaining is from the underground.
5) The total amount of water in the earth is nearly 1.350 billion km3. Only 1/3 of the fall can be used. The remaining goes back to atmosphere or used by the plants.
6) According to the annual usage distribution of water which is suitable for human use; agricultural irrigation 2680, domestic 300, industry 1000, totally 3980 km3, that is to say, 4 trillion m3. Its domestic expression is 4 quadrillion litre, in other words 1 quadrillion gallon. With respect to sectoral and country distribution; according to the data of Worldwatch Institute, which is a non-governmental organization famous for its environmentalist researches;
1) The global demand for water has increased 3 times. Agriculture consumes 70 % of the water in the earth, industry consumes 22 % and municipalities 8 % thereof.
2) 6 countries in the world (Brasil, China, Indonesia, Canada, Colombia, Russia) are still presenting the renewable water in the world. At the beginning of 2000’s, Canada comes up first from the aspect of water affluence with annual personal 92.000 m3 water, Jordan (138m3), Israil (124 m3) and Kuwait ranks as the poorest from the aspect of water affluence.
3) Water is one of the leading substances which has been distributed unequally. For example, China, which has the 21 % of the world population, has the 7 % of renewable fresh water in the earth.
4) 3/4 of the world is covered with water and 3/4 of the weight of live life consists of water. Accordingly, we can talk about a “water constant” in our natural and physical life and it is 3/4.
According to Ozan YALÇINKAYA, Central Hydropolitics Project Head, the periods after 2005 will be water century in a real sense of the word for the whole world. Water issue has become so vital for especially developed countries that some radical definitions has been developed to express the importance of water. Such as White Oil, Blue Gold.. One of the common facts of today is that USA and other industrialized G-7 countries which are named as the hegemony powers of the world make consultancy companies and academic institutions acting in the field of strategy prepare intervention plots and risk analysis reports against “ possible crisis, disputes and war risks due to the water sources in the following centuries”. That many states mention water resources in their future safety projections has rendered water sources an instrument of international policies applied for water sources. In the event that water sources decrease locally in the periods of drought due to climatic changes or totally vanish, the states or institutions that take the control of water sources will also have the possibility to control demographic moves, fact of migration, agricultural production, sanitary conditions, possible water crisis and wars between the societies or states due to access and use of water sources in the world.
Turkey is a very fertile country with respect to water. That it is surrounded with seas, its streams, rivers and climatic structure makes Turkey advantegeous in this sense. However, that the surrounding countries are not as lucky as Turkey with respect to water, GAP Project, location of Dicle and Fırat, water demand of Israil and Syria makes the issue more complex. So, it is inevitable that Turkey immediately forms a water policy. We hope that we value our water, we do not experience the idiom of our ancestors “ Su uyur, düşman uyumaz”.
