Selling and buying water

Fights for water may lead in future wars.

Water can't be sold and bought easily, so the only way to solve such problems are wars...
Sounds strange but you actually have to control as a nation a lake or a river in order to gain water out of it.

government control must exist on global market

Hi!
Unfornately we live in a world in which (almost) everything can be bought and sold. So, I think there will be a global market of water, even though I think governments can and should control this market, not letting large companies do whatever they want to with such a basic resource, which should be available for everyone.

no one

Emre.osmanoglu, I think no one wants such a thing :)

maybe in future,we don't have

maybe in future,we don't have any water for selling or buying.

wars

Maybe in the future wars can be for water?

At the futere maybe...

Maybe there will a worldwide water market, like todays oil markets. Why not? But I don't want something like this.

Many countries have water

Many countries have water source.For example turkey.but nobody know our future.maybe powerful countries will destroy because of water

Their questions always have answers.

Water resources can help to countries a lot and on the other hand, in my opinion, wealthy countries with the other kind of resources such as oil resources and also industry, are never going to stay answerless, too. Politics will somewhat be the solution they need.

Yes!

I do think that the importance of clear water will increase in the future!it might be possible that the water will be as gold!Perhaps small countries with few Water will depend on large countries with a lot of water! and all this thinks will affect our economy!

(which, of course, wouldn't

(which, of course, wouldn't be able if money wasn't involved)

(which, of course, wouldn't

(which, of course, wouldn't be able if money wasn't involved)

It's not about making profit

It's not about making profit solely. I'm talking about more noble, higher and international interaction.

It's not about making profit

It's not about making profit solely. I'm talking about more noble, higher and international interaction.

The roles of government and

The roles of government and especially the private sector in water management are being radically reappraised. The EU water framework directive requires EU Member States to ensure, by 2010, that water-pricing policies provide adequate incentives to use water resources efficiently and to recover the true costs of water services in an equitable manner. Most countries are progressing towards water pricing systems. Investing in water supply and sanitation has produced benefits far greater than those directly related to the cost of treating water-related diseases.

The privatisation of water supplies in some countries has resulted in an increase in the number of households disconnected from water supplies.

In the United Kingdom, for example, the number of domestic disconnections rose from 8 000 to over 21 000 between 1989 and 1992 following privatization of the water industry. Water has become an increasingly expensive commodity and where water meters have been introduced, those with lower incomes use less water.

While there has been a general trend towards higher water prices throughout Europe, water prices still vary considerably. Many of the capitals and major cities in Mediterranean countries have below average prices, as do cities in countries with abundant water supplies. In contrast, water
prices are highest in northern and western European cities.

No

Ecomies have always been based on resources and resources on locations.
Not every location may have the same amount of a certain resources.It is not resonable to wonder if economics are going to be based location and resources since the already are!

In addition I doubt that ecomony will adapt the use of sea water since making it drinkable requires a large amount of money and research that neither the private nor the public sector will be willing to give

I agree with Draskov and FilipDavid...

hahah,I totally agree with Draskov and FilipDavid because we live in the same country...We have a lot of lakes and rivers,but our organisation is really bad.It's going to take some time for our land to make profit out of our water resources...

@draskov

Draskov said everything about our land :)) If we have something, we have water, but our organisation sucks...

My country is the country of

My country is the country of the third world, trying to become a candidate for entering the EU. So, we have unspoiled nature, we have clean water, BUT - we lack organization.

Lucyanna, I find your ideas

Lucyanna, I find your ideas very interesting and I like them. My country, for example, has a lot of unused drinkable water resources.

THINK

There was a time, not long ago, where there were not so many cars or industries and the demands of oil-related energy were minimal. And then, a huge evolution came and the demands increased and the countries of Middle-East, having plenty of oil sources, found themselves, without expecting it, in the middle of wars for oil control.
Water is a source of life and we all agree to that. We are all talking about how it can be an alternative form of energy (water powered cars, water turbine generators..).
Are we sure that, someday in the future, countries with plenty water sources will not have the same fate with Middle-East?
There will always be someone who will want water control. "Profit above all" this is unfortunately the motto of our times.

Water should not be trade for money

Water=natural resource=> it belongs to all citizens of the Earth
Can't be sold/buyed! ( as fionna also said: no water market)
Countries rich in water should give it for free!...
But countries "poor in water" have other resources they could share with the "rich in water" countries.
(I must warn you that as climate changes and dessertification progresses the economically developed countries will not necessary be those "rich in water". So, maybe we shouldn't just say rich and poor countries, but countries who have water resources and countries who don't)

like my country

In my country Bulgaria we have too much rivers, mountain springs everything and we sell too much water to other countries

Sea and fresh water

well, sea water cannot be used like that. And sea water is everywhere around. We have no more need of it, I think. But there really 's gonna be a lack of water and e.g. in africa is, already. What shall we do is the big question here, isn't it??...

Water Market?? no way

I think most of you are just acepting the idea of a water- market. This is madness. Water is a right, not something that can be sold. What it's necessary is, first, everybody, everywhere to be informed about water situation and the need for saving water; and second, as important as the first one, cooperation among countries.
We CANNOT allow water to become a business, as it happens now with oil. It's in our hands to prevent that situation to occur, by sensitizing people about this task, and making the political powers to attend our requests.
That's what I think.

When water becomes commodity...

Nothing will change dramatically - the developed countries with strong diplomatic relations and even stronger armies will be the one who will control the water supplies, nevermaind whether they are in it's own borders or inside another country. When society starts to look at water as it looks to any other commodity, there will be the same crisis as with petrol,gas supplies (Last year my country became a victim of the "gas wars" between Rusia and Ukrain and we were left on our own gas supplies for a whole week. You may also recall the fuel crisis and the sky-reaching prices of oil), because of the rules of the free market.

like oil?no,no,no

Everythig that you said is really interesting, and i believe that we should consider everything if we want to solve problems.Water would be like oil,but there mustn`t be fight for water,that`s everyone needs and people can died if ther don`t drink water..

Every war and economic crisis

Every war and economic crisis will be based on water in the future. I think switzerland, the always called neutral one, will be forced to give other countries in europe more water since they produce a lot.

I Think we should all be more

I Think we should all be more concious about our water usage so for everyone there is enough clean water. If we save water we could save many lives.

Global water bank..

Do you think it is possible to have 'global water bank'??
I think there are a lot of problems coming up with this solutuion!!
Often poor countries in Africa for example don't have the money to
buy water or do you think rich countries should give them water
for free?? An other problem is to bring th water to the country..
But I think it could work, if all the European Countries would
work together for a better life with more water in Africa, one of
the biggest probles in the world could be solved!!!!

Agree

I agree that a "water market" may exist in the futur if we don't pay attention to it now. Of course access to water it's everyone's right and we have to be cautious now to avoid something like that in the coming years.

I don't believe that this could happen in the near futur, as water seems to be enough for everybody at the moment if we find a better way to distribute it, but the danger of this happening will always exist.

water stock exchange

Its a nice idea you got there, water market, maybe it could be so extreme so that there will be a stock exchange with the water as water will become minimally as important as oil. Maybe we will even have to get water from some buildings like ""gas stations" for water.

I agree

Hello!
I totally agree with most of the things you said. In fact, as it is also being discussed in the forum "Will the next fights be due to lack of water resources?", as water is starting to lack and this situation will predictibly become more and more SERIOUS, the political controversy about water will be very noteworthy. Large wet countries like Russia will have, in fact, an ADVANTAGE over smaller drier ones, specially if they are poor, which will create dificulties to buy the water.
So, I think we must reinforce INTERNATIONAL DIALOGUE AND COOPERATION, in order to fairly share water. I know it'll be hard, as we are often selfish, but our common SURVIVAL must be more important!

About SEA WATER, I think its use will become more common. In POORER COUNTRIES, it will perhaps be used, as often as possiblem, without treatment, as water desalinization stations are expensive (see the forum "Water Desalinization Stations").
In RICHER more developed countries like the european ones, I think these centrals willl be common within a few decades, and so seashore will be an important factor.

Selling of seawater

Hi Tjorven,

I think that water is becoming more important in future for the economy. In fact it could be as important as oil in a few years. Even if I don’t think that in the western countries there will be such an economy, I can imagine that that will happen in poorer countries.

Another problem I see is, that in a few years, when the possibility to use saltwater efficiently is given, there will perhaps be a very big economy with seawater. All the countries, which have seashores, could perhaps sell their water to smaller countries without seashores. And those small countries will suffer from that problem. This problem, if it really occurs, has to be reconsidered in future.

I think that every European

I think that every European country has sufficient water resources, for instance rivers and lakes. I know that there are pipes transferring oil and petroleum but I think pipes that transfer water between countries for a commercial reasons do not exist. Of course, water manipulation brings us back to imperialistic practises but could you prove your statement with valid examples in order to be more specific;