Question

Document 4 . . . Virtually every country in the [Middle East] region is running out of water quickly. With the region’s population expected to increase by as much as 15 percent by 2025—to about 350 million people—its water needs will be double what they were in 1975. While the deepest-desert countries like Egypt, Syria, Iraq, Jordan, and Israel do have access to local internal water sources—so-called fossil water—these sources [aquifers] are being depleted rapidly and won’t be replenished anytime soon. This water, found in underground aquifers, has been trapped since the last ice age; after it’s used up, it could take thousands and thousands of years to restock. . . .Since local aquifers are barely of signifi cance any longer, three river systems must supply almost all the water for the region: the Jordan, the Nile, and the Tigris/Euphrates. Not surprisingly, bitter geopolitical fi ghts over these rivers are already breaking out—some of which are recasting Middle Eastern political alliances in surprising ways—and bloody battles have already been waged over who has control of the water. . . . Source: Jeffrey Rothfeder, Every Drop for Sale: Our Desperate Battle Over Water in a World About to Run Out, Penguin Putnam, 20014 According to Jeffrey Rothfeder, what is one action taken by countries in the Middle East in response to a scarcity of water? [1]

Answer 1

Countries in the Middle East are engaging in bitter geopolitical fights over the region's three main river systems (the Jordan, the Nile, and the Tigris/Euphrates) and bloody battles have already been waged over control of the water.