1AC Plan Text

Text: The United States federal government should substantially increase its ocean desalination development.

1AC Water Justice AdvantageFederal policy on water accessibility ignores and excludes low-income communities and communities of color—only federal resources and regulation can correct discrimination in water policyVanderwarker 13 (Amy, outreach coordinator for the ¶ Environmental Justice Coalition for Water, a coalition of community groups and advocacy ¶ organizations that addresses water injustices, “A Twenty-First Century U.S. Water Policy”, pp. 56-57)

As a result, low-income communities and communities of color may experience the cumulative impacts of exposure to a wide variety of contaminants or disproportionate lack of access to resources . According to NEJAC, the idea of cumulative risks and impacts is the “matrix of physical, chemical, biological, social and cultural factors which result in certain communities and sub-populations are being more susceptible to environmental toxins , being more exposed to toxins, or having compromised ability to cope with and/or recover from such exposure” (NEJAC 2004, i).¶ There are many barriers to achieving change for EJ

in communities. More affluent communities have an array of privileges that help ensure healthier environments, including more political influence and resources to fight unwanted environmental hazards (Brulle and Pellow 2006). An Institute of Medicine

report on EJ and public health found that “there are identifiable communities of concern that experience a certain type of double jeopardy in the sense that they (1) experience higher levels of exposure to environmental stressors in terms of both frequency and magnitude and (2) are less able to deal with these hazards as a result of limited knowledge of exposures and disenfranchisement in the political process” (Committee on Environmental Justice 1999, 6).¶ These problems extend to water resources.

Water injustices within federal water policy include: ¶ • Instances where low-income communities and communities of color are disproportionately burdened by water hazards, ranging from lack of clean drinking water to higher exposure to fish contamination; ¶ • Legacies of discrimination in land-use planning and housing that perpetuate water” inequities, such as exposure to lead contamination in drinking water; ¶ • Inequalities in the enforcement of water-specific policies and regulations; ¶ • Gaps in existing regulations around water policy and a lack of regulations ¶ around critical water justice issues; ¶ • Cumulative risks and impacts to low-income communities and communities of ¶ color that are overlooked; ¶ • Community voices and water needs that have been excluded from federal water ¶ policy .¶ Regional studies and stories from across the country document the water struggles of low-income communities and communities of color and demonstrate that there is much progress to be made before water justice is achieved in the United States. Accurate data on water quality and water use do not exist in many places and is not comprehensively collected nationwide (see chapter 1). There is also a lack of data com- paring water issues in the context of race and income. For example, the US Census once collected information on individual sources of drinking water, but the question¶ is no longer asked, making it difficult to assess questions of inequitable access to water¶ (GWTF 2007)..

The status quo is holding back large scale desalination projects—a high initial capital investment is necessary for successful desalination infrastructureAMTA 7. American Membrane Technology Association “Future of Desalination in the United States”

[http://www.amtaorg.com/wp-content/uploads/11_FutureofDesal.pdf] [MG]

As the nation’s population and industrial development grows, so does fresh water use. Along with this increase in water use, the availability of traditional water supplies is declining while the costs of these supplies are on the rise. According to a former director of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administrations’ Office

of Hydrology, “As we move toward the 21st century, short supplies of clean water could rival expensive oil as one of the nation’s most serious concerns .” Traditional surface water development sites: dams, reservoirs and aqueducts have already been used, and many proposed projects are not feasible due to significant environmental concerns , lack of funding or the high initial capital investments required . There are, however, several options for augmenting, increasing or extending existing freshwater supplies. Conservation has been, and will continue to be, the easiest and most cost-effective means of managing water demands. However, there are limitations with the amount of water that may be conserved. Recycled treated wastewater, or “water reuse” can sometimes replace existing freshwater supplies for

non-potable and some limited indirect potable uses. The need for additional water supplies has forced water agencies to look for new sources of supply , such as the ocean and brackish groundwater aquifers. Ocean water desal ination is a vast water source that remains untapped in significant quantities in the United States . Over three-quarters of the earth’s surface is covered by water too salty to sustain human life or farming. Also, many freshwater-short areas have access to brackish (moderately salty) water. Desalting, or

desalination, is a process used to create new freshwater supplies by separating salt and other dissolved minerals from sea water or brackish water. Other contaminants, such as dissolved metals, arsenic, pathogens, organic matter and radio-nuclides, are also removed by membrane methods.

Water scarcity is coming—Desalination of the world’s oceans is critical to prevent horrific living conditions that will spread globallyLarson 12. Rhett B. Larson, Visiting Assistant Professor of Law at Arizona State University's Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law. J.D. University of Chicago, MSc Oxford University, B.A. Brigham Young University “Innovation and International Commons: The Case of Desalination Under International Law” 2012 Utah L. Rev. 759 [MG]

The potential importance of desalination is evident in a passing glance at a globe. While water itself is not scarce, 97% of the Earth's water is salt water , and 2.7% of the remaining fresh water is virtually inaccessible in the polar ice caps or deep underground aquifers. n2 The abundance of salt water and relative scarcity of freshwater has made the pursuit of technology to remove salt from water a centuries-old quest for the Holy Grail of water supply. n3 Indeed, Aristotle was one of the first scientists to experiment with desalination technology. n4

Technology that could tap into the blue vastness of the globe may hold the key to avoiding water resource conflict in the future. Desalination has developed rapidly since Aristotle's early experiments, particularly in recent decades. What was once an impractical and costly

experiment has become a viable water supply and remediation tool. As a result of recent innovations, the cost of desalination in many instances has decreased by as much as 90%. n5 In some areas, these innovations have made desalinated water [*760]

economically competitive with other traditional potable water sources. n6 As of 2005, over ten thousand large-scale desalination plants

were in place in nations such as Saudi Arabia, the United States, Australia, Spain, Japan, Iran, China, Israel, India, Italy, and Mexico. n7 As reliance on desalination grows and desalination costs continue to decrease, this technology will have correspondingly greater implications for international relations. Desalination has an indisputable role to play in addressing water scarcity and water pollution . Currently, 2.3 billion people live without access to adequate water supplies , 1.1 billion live without safe drinking water, and approximately six thousand children under the age of five die every day from water-related diseases . n8 In 2000, the United Nations (UN) established its Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), which included halving, by 2015, "the proportion of the population without sustainable access to

safe drinking water and basic sanitation [from 1990 levels]." n9 Despite improvements spurred by the MDG initiative, the UN predicts that two-thirds of the world's population, or 5 .5 billion people, will live in areas of "water stress " by 2025 - the result of growing populations , increased water contamination , and climate change . n10 Population growth, economic development leading to increased consumption, and climate change will make water stress a preeminent challenge of the coming decades .

Scarcity uniquely affects rural populations and the urban poor—the impact is disease, pollution, and povertyKoppen et al 00 International Water Management Institute Randolph Barker Barbara van Koppen and Tushaar Shah “Water Scarcity and Poverty” [http://www.bvsde.paho.org/bvsacd/cd27/global.pdf?origin=publication_detail] [MG]

As we approach the next century, it is widely recognized that many countries (in contrast to eastern India and Bangladesh) are entering an era of severe water shortage. IWMI has undertaken a long-term program to improve the conceptual and empirical basis for the analysis of water in major river basins of the world (Seckler, Molden, and Barker 1998). The initial findings of this study project that in the first quarter of the next century 2.7 billion people or a third of the world’s population will experience severe water scarcity. The bulk of this population will reside in the semiarid regions of Asia and in sub-Saharan Africa. Due to overexploitation of groundwater, food production will be adversely affected in the semiarid regions, which include two of Asia’s major breadbaskets—the Punjab and the North China Plain. In northwestern India, the rise of tube-well irrigation crowded out manual water-lifting devices used by smallholders during the 1960s. In western and peninsular India, besides competitive lowering of groundwater tables, excessive pump irrigation has also resulted in fluoride contamination of groundwater, which has been the mainstay of the poor for their domestic water needs. What are the implications of these findings for the poor? Water is both a commodity and a natural resource and a perceived human entitlement. When Nobel Laureate, Amartya Sen (1981) wrote about poverty and famines in Bengal, he

spoke of “entitlements” in terms of purchasing power for food. The primary people affected by the famines were the landless rural poor. But in today’s environment of growing water scarcity the problem is more pervasive. An increasing number of the poor — rural and urban consumers , rural producers, and rural laborers—are coming to view access or entitlement to water as a more critical problem than access to food, primary health care, and education . The typical urban household uses water for drinking and sanitation. But rural areas use water for a wide range of purposes. Even in irrigated areas water is used not only for the main field crops but also for domestic use, home gardens, trees and other permanent vegetation, and livestock (Bakker et al. 1999). Other productive uses include fishing, harvesting of aquatic plants and animals, and a variety of other enterprises such as brick making. In addition, irrigation systems can have a positive or negative effect on the environment. Thus, the

withdrawal of water affects the rural household, rural economy, and environment in a number of ways. Water scarcity is exemplified by situations such

as: the need to carry heavy pots of water several kilometers every day to meet household needs; the destitution of farmers who lose their lands or of

the landless who lose their jobs because of lack of irrigation water; the loss of wetlands or estuaries because of upstream water depletion;

and increases health problems due to water pollution and a rise in incidence of water-borne diseases . Experts in the field agree

that the quantity of water is even more important than the quality in terms of its impact on human health. However, water scarcity leads to declining water quality and pollution, which has an especially adverse impact on the poor . Many (perhaps

most) of the poorest people in developing countries are forced to drink water that is unfit for human consumption. They suffer from a range of skin related and other health problems .

This form of environmental injustice outweighs any impact on probability and magnitude-we have an obligation to change our decision-making process.Verchick in 1996 [Robert, Assistant Professor, University of Missouri -- Kansas City School of Law. J.D., Harvard Law School, 1989, “IN A GREENER VOICE: FEMINIST THEORY AND ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE” 19 Harv. Women's L.J. 23]

Because risk assessment is based on statistical measures of risk, policymakers view it as an accurate and objective tool in establishing environmental standards. n275 The scientific process used to assess risk purports to focus single-mindedly on only one feature of a potential injury: the objective probability of its occurrence. n276 Risk assessors, who consider most value judgments irrelevant in determining statistical risk, seek to banish them at every stage. n277 As a result, the language of risk assessment -- and of related environmental safety standards -- often carry an air of irrebuttable precision and certainty. The EPA, for example, defines the standard acceptable level of risk under Superfund as "10<-6>" -- that is, the probability that one person in a million would develop cancer due to exposure to site contamination. n278 [*76] Feminism challenges this model of scientific risk assessment on at least three levels. First, feminism questions the assumption that scientific inquiry is value-neutral, that is, free of societal bias or prejudice. n279 Indeed, as many have pointed out, one's perspective unavoidably influences the practice of science. n280 Western science may be infused with its own ideology, perpetuating, in the view of the ecofeminists, cycles of discrimination, domination, and exploitation. n281 Second, even if scientific inquiry by itself were value-neutral, environmental regulation based on such inquiry would still contain subjective elements. Environmental regulation, like any other product of democracy, inevitably reflects elements of subjectivity, compromise, and self-interest. The technocratic language of regulation serves only to "mask, not eliminate, political and social considerations." n282 We have already seen how the subjective decision to prefer white men as subjects for epidemiological study can skew risk assessments against the interests of women and people of color. The focus of many assessments on the risk of cancer deaths, but not, say, the risks of birth defects or miscarriages, is yet another example of how a policymaker's subjective decision of what to look for can influence what is ultimately seen. n283 Once risk data are collected and placed in a statistical form, the ultimate translation of that information into rules and standards of conduct once again reflects value judgments. A safety threshold of one in a million or a preference for "best conventional technology" does not spring from the periodic table, but rather evolves from the application [*77] of human experience and judgment to scientific information. Whose experience? Whose judgment? Which information? These are the questions that feminism prompts, and they will be discussed shortly.

Finally, feminists would argue that questions involving the risk of death and disease should not even aspire to value neutrality. Such decisions -- which affect not only today's generations, but those of the future -- should be made with all related political and moral considerations plainly on the table. n284 In addition, policymakers should look to all perspectives, especially those of society's most vulnerable members, to develop as complete a picture of the moral issues as possible. Debates about scientific risk assessment and public values often appear as a tug of war between the "technicians," who would apply only value-neutral criteria to set regulatory standards, and the "public," who demand that psychological perceptions and contextual factors also be considered. n285 Environmental justice advocates, strongly concerned with the practical experiences of threatened communities, argue convincingly for the latter position. n286 A feminist critique of the issue, however, suggests that the debate is much richer and more complicated than a bipolar view allows. For feminists, the notion of value neutrality simply does not exist. The debate between technicians and the public, according to feminists, is not merely a contest between science and feelings, but a broader discussion about the sets of methods, values, and attitudes to which each group subscribes. Furthermore, feminists might argue, the parties to this discussion divide into more than two categories. Because one's world view is premised on many things, including personal experience, one might expect that subgroups within either category might differ in significant ways from other subgroups. Therefore, feminists would anticipate a broad spectrum of views concerning scientific risk assessment and public values. Intuitively, this makes sense. Certainly scientists disagree among themselves about the hazards of nuclear waste, ozone depletion, and global warming. n287 Many critics have argued that

scientists, despite their allegiance [*78] to rational method, are nonetheless influenced by personal and political views . n288 Similarly, members of the public are a widely divergent group. One would not be surprised to see politicians, land developers, and blue-collar workers disagreeing about environmental standards for essentially non-scientific reasons. Politicians and bureaucrats are two sets of the non-scientific community that affect environmental standards in fundamental ways. Their adherence to vocal, though not always broadly representative, constituencies may lead them to disfavor less advantaged socioeconomic groups when addressing environmental concerns. n289 In order to understand a diversity of risk perception and to see how attitudes and social status affect the risk assessment process, we must return to the feminist inquiry that explores the relationship between attitudes and identity. 1. The Diversity of Risk Perception A recent national survey, conducted by James Flynn, Paul Slovic, and C.K. Mertz, measured the risk perceptions of a group of 1512 people that included numbers of men, women, whites, and non-whites proportional to their ratios in society. n290 Respondents answered questions about the health risks of twenty-five environmental, technological, and "life-style" hazards, including such hazards as ozone depletion, chemical waste, and cigarette smoking. n291 The researchers asked them to rate each hazard as posing "almost no health risk," a "slight health risk," a "moderate health risk," or a "high health risk." The researchers then analyzed [*79] the responses to determine whether the randomly selected groups of white men, white women, non-white men, and non-white women differed in any way. The researchers found that perceptions of risk generally differed on the lines of gender and race. Women, for instance, perceived greater risk from most hazards than did men. n292 Furthermore, non-whites as a group perceived greater risk from most hazards than did whites. n293 Yet the most striking results appeared when the researchers considered differences in gender and race together. They found that "white males tended to differ from everyone else in their attitudes and perceptions -- on average, they perceived risks as much smaller and much more acceptable than did other people." n294 Indeed, without exception, the pool of white men perceived each of the twenty-five hazards as less risky than did non-white men, white women, or non-white women. n295 Wary that other factors associated with gender or race could be influencing their findings, the researchers later conducted several multiple regression analyses to correct for differences in income, education, political orientation, the presence of children in the home, and age, among others. Yet even after all corrections, "gender, race, and 'white male' [status] remained highly significant predictors" of perceptions of risk. n296 2. Explaining the Diversity From a feminist perspective, these findings are important because they suggest that risk assessors, politicians, and bureaucrats -- the large majority of whom are white men n297 -- may be acting on attitudes about security and risk that women and people of color do not widely share. If this is so, white men, as the "measurers of all things," have crafted a system of environmental protection that is biased toward their subjective understandings of the world. n298 [*80] Flynn, Slovic, and Mertz speculate that white men's perceptions of risk may differ from those of others because in many ways women and people of color are "more vulnerable, because they benefit less from many of [society's] technologies and institutions, and because they have less power and control." n299 Although Flynn, Slovic, and Mertz are careful to acknowledge that they have not yet tested this hypothesis empirically, their explanation appears consistent with the life experiences of less empowered groups and comports with previous understandings about

the roles of control and risk perception. n300 Women and people of color, for instance, are more vulnerable to environmental threat in

several ways. Such groups are sometimes more biologically vulnerable than are white men. n301 P eople of color are more likely to live near hazardous waste sites , to breathe dirty air in urban communities, and to be otherwise exposed to environmental harm . n302 Women, because of their traditional role as primary caretakers, are more likely to be aware of the vulnerabilities of their children. n303 It makes sense that such vulnerabilities would give rise to increased fear about risk. It is also very likely that women and people of color believe they benefit less from the technical institutions that create toxic byproducts. n304 Further, people may be more likely to discount risk if they feel somehow compensated for the activity. n305 For this reason, Americans worry relatively little about driving automobiles, an activity with enormous advantages in our large country but one that claims tens of thousands of lives per year. The researchers' final hypothesis -- that differences in perception can be explained by the lack of "power and control" exercised by women and people of color -- suggests the importance that such factors as voluntariness and control over risk play in shaping perceptions. [*81] Risk perception research frequently emphasizes the significance of voluntariness in evaluating risk. Thus, a person may view water-skiing as less risky than breathing polluted air because the former is accepted voluntarily. n306 Voluntary risks are viewed as more acceptable in part because they are products of autonomous choice. n307 A risk accepted voluntarily is also one from which a person is more likely to derive an individual benefit and one over which a person is more likely to retain some kind of control. n308 Some studies have found that people prefer voluntary risks to involuntary risks by a factor of 1000 to 1. n309 Although environmental risks are generally viewed as involuntary risks to a certain degree, choice plays a role in assuming risks. White men are still more likely to exercise some degree of choice in assuming

environmental risks than other groups. Communities of color face greater difficulty in avoiding the placement of hazardous facilities in their neighborhoods and are more likely to live in areas with polluted air and lead contamination. n310

Families of color wishing to buy their way out of such polluted neighborhoods often a re limited by housing discrimination, redlining by banks , and residential segregation . n311 The workplace similarly presents workers exposed to toxic hazards (a disproportionate number of whom are minorities) n312 with impossible choices between health and work, or between sterilization and demotion. n313 Just as marginalized groups have less choice in determining the degree of risk they will assume, they may feel less control over the risks they face. "Whether or not the risk is assumed voluntarily, people have greater [*82] fear of activities with risks that appear to be outside their individual control." n314 For this reason, people often fear flying in an airplane more than driving a car, even though flying is statistically safer. n315 If white men are more complacent about public risks, it is perhaps because they are more likely to have their hands on the steering wheel when such risks are imposed. White men still control the major political and business institutions in this country. n316 They also dominate the sciences n317 and make up the vast majority of management staff at environmental agencies. n318 Women and people of color see this disparity and often lament their back-seat role in shaping environmental policy. n319 Thus, many people of color in the environmental justice movement believe that environmental laws work to their disadvantage by design. n320 [*83] The toxic rivers of Mississippi's "Cancer Alley," n321 the extensive poisoning of rural Indian land, n322 and the mismanaged cleanup of the weapons manufacturing site in Hanford, Washington n323 only promote the feeling that environmental policy in the United States sacrifices the weak for the benefit of the strong. In addition, the catastrophic potential that groups other than white men associate with a risk may explain the perception gap between those groups and white males. Studies of risk perception show that, in general, individuals harbor particularly great fears of catastrophe. n324 For this reason, earthquakes, terrorist bombings, and other disasters in which high concentrations of people are killed or injured prove particularly disturbing to the lay public. Local environmental threats involving toxic dumps, aging smelters, or poisoned wells also produce high concentrations of localized harm that can appear catastrophic to those involved. n325 Some commentators contend that the catastrophic potential of a risk should

influence risk assessment in only minimal ways. n326 Considering public fear of catastrophes , they argue, will irrationally lead policymakers to battle more dramatic but statistically less threatening hazards , while accepting more harmful but more mundane hazards. n327 [*84] At least two reasons explain why the catastrophic potential of environmental hazards must be given weight in risk assessment. First, concentrated and localized environmental hazards do not simply harm individuals, they erode family ties and community relationships. An onslaught of miscarriages or birth defects in a neighborhood, for instance, will create community-wide stress that will debilitate the neighborhood in emotional, sociological, and

economic ways. n328 To ignore this communal harm is to underestimate severely the true risk involved. n329 Second, because

concentrated and localized environmental hazards tend to be unevenly distributed on the basis of race and income level, any resulting mass injury to a threatened population takes on profound moral character. For this reason, Native Americans often characterize the military's poisoning of Indian land as genocide. n330 [*85] 3.

Only development through legal and state institutions ensures effectiveness. Otherwise, international disputes will moot any successful technological development.Larson 12. Rhett B. Larson, Visiting Assistant Professor of Law at Arizona State University's Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law. J.D. University of Chicago, MSc Oxford University, B.A. Brigham Young University “Innovation and International Commons: The Case of Desalination Under International Law” 2012 Utah L. Rev. 759

[MG]

Disputes over international commons between nations have the potential to boil over into serious conflict . n243 Indeed, it is

not coincidental that international security "hot spots" are often also areas of disputed international water rights. n244 India and Pakistan are currently experiencing heightened tensions over sharing the Brahmaputra River, where the battle cry of some is that "water

must flow, or blood must flow." n245 In the Levant, the Jordan River and Mountain Aquifer have been the source of political, diplomatic, and even military conflict . n246 With a regime change in Egypt and Libya and the rise of South Sudan, the fate of shared water sources like the Nile and the Nubian Sandstone Aquifer are shrouded by the potential for conflict. n247 Turkey, Iraq, and Syria continue to experience diplomatic tension over the Euphrates River, which also aggravates relationships with ethnic Kurds. n248 This tension over the Euphrates has become an issue in Turkey's possible accession to

the European Union. n249 [*812] However, international commons may also provide the locus for international collaboration, which improves regional relations and facilitates sustainable development. n250 Recent treaty efforts on the Mekong River, the Guarani Aquifer, and Lake Victoria show promise in promoting regional resource cooperation. n251 This Article proposes reforms to current approaches to international law governing international commons like rivers and aquifers so that technological innovation will advance cooperation rather than result in conflict. This Article describes the RAM model and its inadequacies and introduces the CAM model as an alternative for the management of international commons in the face of technological innovation. These two models play complementary roles along the fairness continuum, with the CAM model's aims at collaboration and adaptation most essential to achieving fair resource management capable of responding to technological innovation. More research and discussion is needed on how new governance approaches relate to adversarial legalism like the RAM model, the role of new governance in international natural resource management, and how governance reforms can facilitate

responsible development and implementation of new technologies impacting resource use and allocation. Desalination is only one of many potential technologies that could impact fair resource management between nations. The CAM model could be examined in the context of technologies for water recycling or accessing deep fossil groundwater. Recent technological innovations have made wastewater treatment more affordable, facilitating water recycling as a major national water supply strategy in Singapore. n252 Technological innovation in drilling techniques has also made new groundwater resources available, with potential implications for arid regions like Jordan and Saudi Arabia. n253 The CAM model could also be applied to international basins where these innovations impact water quality and water rights. [*813] Water, however, is only one type of resource shared by nations that technological innovation could impact. Technological innovation could impact the allocation and use of other shared transboundary resources, including air, minerals, or ecosystem services. These shared resources could also be evaluated by applying an analysis similar to that used in this Article. Transboundary geologic forma7tions capable of serving as sites of carbon sequestration could also prove to be important international commons impacted by technological innovation, as nations increasingly move toward climate change mitigation measures. Additionally, international law is not the only area of law in which these issues are raised. Intranational, interjurisdictional natural resource governance also would benefit from reform to better respond to and responsibly facilitate technological innovation. Such instances include interstate water management in the United States and interprovince water management in Australia. In each instance, a CAM model approach would respond best to new technologies, though in each case the question will remain at what level the international governance institution is best established.

Sharing scarce and vital resources across international borders is one of the great challeng es of the coming decad es. Legal institutions and regulatory regimes governing international commons must adapt to technological innovation to avoid conflict over resources and encourage collaborative development of beneficial new technologies. The CAM model proposed in this Article is aimed at responding to the coming changes in climate, population, and technology, at facilitating cooperation in resource development, and at avoiding resource disputes.

Clearly desalinization is not one size fits all – but the plan’s support and focus ensures that local communities are empowered to make environmentally just policy decisions that address the water-climate-energy matrix of inequalityCraig 10 [Robin K. Craig, Attorneys’ Title Professor of Law and Associate Dean for Environmental Programs, Florida State ¶ University College of Law, Tallahassee, Florida. T “Water Supply, Desalination, Climate Change, and Energy ¶ Policy*,” 2010 / Water Supply, Desalination, Climate Change, and Energy Policy | prs]

Conversely, water is relatively easy to store, and suggests two potential ¶ future paths for linking energy policy and water policy. First, in the balancing of ¶ tradeoffs, and especially while electricity storage problems are still being ¶ resolved, alternative energy technologies might be productively directed toward ¶ water desalination. Such use might provide real-world facilities for testing and ¶ improving alternative energy technologies free from the supply issues that arise ¶ in trying to inject wind and solar electricity production into standard electricity ¶ grids. Second, in addition to desalinating water, such projects may discover ways ¶ to “store” solar and wind energy in the form of water—for example, by pumping ¶ water to uphill storage facilities, where the water

then can be used as needed to ¶ generate electricity through more standard hydroelectric operations. ¶ Thinking about water policy and energy policy together, in other words, may ¶ generate new and creative ways of thinking about both . Water supply issues in ¶ particular may provide opportunities for thinking outside the traditional energy ¶ policy constraints . While water crises are (or are about to become) real in many parts of the ¶ world, they “ cannot be addressed in isolation of our energy crisis. ”177¶ ¶

Desalination is such a potentially viable water supply option that countries such ¶ as Australia and the United States are increasingly employing to avert acute ¶ water crises and to supplement more traditional water supplies. Like all watersupply

technologies, however, desalination encompasses a series of potential ¶ trade-offs among a traditional constellation of factors —water needs, energy ¶ supply, economic costs, environment al impacts, social benefits , and the relatively ¶ new consideration of climate change mitigation and adaptation . How exactly ¶ these factors trade off against each other will vary considerably from location to ¶ location , rendering desalination an attractive option in some locations and a ¶ wasteful option in others. ¶ And that is precisely the point, not just for desalination but for all water ¶ supply decisions. Identifying and discussing the tradeoffs , variables, and ¶ variations inherent in providing fresh water in different locations should be a n ¶ integral part of combined water and energy policies . As with most complex ¶ human problems, there are unlikely to be universal “first-best” panaceas for ¶ resolving the water supply/energy/climate change matrix. Yet desalination, like ¶ all other water supply

technologies from buckets to pumps, must be on the ¶ table —if only because it may help inspire comprehensive and creative ¶ approaches to resolving these complexities in socially productive and ¶ environmentally productive ways .

1AC Water Conflicts AdvantageIt’s not just thirst, water stress is a threat multiplier that enflames all hot spots—it’s at the intersection of all conflict and is a key factor in understanding the complexity of threatsDinar et al 12. SHLOMI DINAR is associate professor in the Department of Politics and International Relations and associate director of the School of International and Public Affairs at Florida International University. LUCIA DE STEFANO is associate professor at Complutense University of Madrid and researcher at the Water Observatory of the Botín Foundation. JAMES DUNCAN is consultant on natural resource governance and geography with the World Bank. KERSTIN STAHL is senior scientist at the Institute of Hydrology in the University of Freiburg. KENNETH M. STRZEPEK is research scientist with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Joint Program on the Science and Policy of Global Change. AARON T. WOLF is a professor of geography in the College of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Sciences at Oregon State University, Foreign Affairs, October 18, 2012, "No Wars for Water", http://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/138208/shlomi-dinar-lucia-de-stefano-james-duncan-kerstin-stahl-kenneth/no-wars-for-water?page=show

In short, predictions of a Water World War are overwrought. However, tensions over water usage can still exacerbate other existing regional conflicts . Climate change is expected to intensify droughts , floods, and other extreme weather conditions that jeopardize freshwater quantity and quality and therefore is a threat-multiplier, making shaky regions shakier. So what river basins constitute the biggest

risks today? In a World Bank report we published in 2010 (as well as a subsequent article in a special issue of the Journal of Peace Research) we analyzed the

physical effects of climate change on international rivers. We modeled the variability in river annual runoff in the past and for future

climate scenarios. We also considered the existence and nature of the institutional capacity around river basins, in the form of international water

treaties, to potentially deal with the effects of climate change. According to our research, 24 of the world's 276 international river basins are already experiencing increased water variability. These 24 basins , which collectively serve about 332 million people , are at high risk of water related political tensions . The majority of the basins are located in northern and sub-Saharan Africa. A few others are located in the Middle East, south-central Asia, and South America. They include the Tafna (Algeria and Morocco), the Dasht (Iran and Pakistan), the Congo (Central Africa), Lake

Chad (Central Africa), the Niger (Western Africa), the Nile (Northeastern Africa), and the Chira (Ecuador and Peru). There are no strong treaties governing the use of these water reserves in tense territories. Should conflicts break out, there are no good mechanisms in place for dealing with them. By 2050, an additional 37 river basins, serving 83 million people, will be at high risk for feeding into political tensions. As is

the case currently, a large portion of these are in Africa. But, unlike today, river basins within Central Asia , Eastern Europe, Central Europe, and Central

America will also be at high risk within 40 years. Some of these include the Kura-Araks (Iran, Turkey, and the Caucasus), the Neman (Eastern Europe) Asi-

Orontes (Lebanon, Syria, Turkey), and the Catatumbo Basins (Colombia and Venezuela). CROSSING THE NILE Among the larger African basins, the Nile has the greatest implications for regional and global security. Tensions over access to the river already pit Ethiopia and Egypt, two important

Western allies, against one another. Egypt has been a major player in the Middle East Peace Process and Ethiopia is an important regional force in the Horn of

Africa, currently aiding other African forces to battle Al-Shabbab in Somalia. Over the years, a number of international water treaties have made rules

for the basin, but they are largely limited to small stretches of it. In particular, only Egypt and Sudan are party to the 1959 Nile River Agreement, the principal treaty regarding the river. Egypt, which is the furthest downstream yet is one of the most powerful countries in the region, has been able to heavily influence the water-sharing regime. Upstream countries, such as Ethiopia and Burundi, have been left out, hard-pressed to harness the Nile for their own needs. In 1999, with increasingly vitriolic rhetoric between Egypt and Ethiopia sidetracking regional development, the World Bank stepped up its involvement in the basin. It helped create a network of professional water managers as well as a set of investments in a number of sub-basins. Still, the

drafting of a new agreement stalled: upstream countries would not compromise on their right to develop water infrastructure while downstream countries would not compromise on protecting their shares . In 2010, Ethiopia signed an agreement with a number of the other upstream countries hoping to balance against Egypt and Sudan. More recently, the country has also announced plans to construct a number of large upstream dams , which could affect the stability of the region . By 2050, the environmental state of the Nile Basin will be even worse. That is why it is important to create a robust and equitable water treaty now. Such a treaty would focus on ways to harness the river's hydropower potential to satiate the energy needs of all the riparian states while maintaining ecosystem health. The construction of dams and reservoirs further upstream could likewise help even out water flows and facilitate agricultural growth. Projects such as these, mitigating damage to ecosystem health and local

populations, would benefit all parties concerned and thus facilitate further basin-wide cooperation. UP IN THE ARAL Another water basin of concern is the Aral Sea, which is shared by Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. The basin consists of two major rivers, the Syr Darya and Amu

Darya. During the Soviet era, these two rivers were managed relatively effectively. The break-up of the Soviet Union, however, ended that. The major dispute

now i s between upstream Kyrgyzstan and downstream Uzbekistan over the Syr Darya. During the winter, Kyrgyzstan needs flowing .water to

produce hydroelectricity whereas Uzbekistan needs to store water to later irrigate cotton fields. The countries have made several attempts to resolve the dispute. In particular, downstream Uzbekistan, which is rich in fuel and gas, has provided energy to Kyrgyzstan to compensate for keeping water in

its large reservoirs until the cotton-growing season. Such barter agreements, however, have had limited success because they are easily manipulated. Downstream states might deliver less fuel during a rainy year, claiming they need less water from upstream reservoirs, and upstream states might

deliver less water in retaliation. Kyrgyzstan, frustrated and desperate for energy in winter months, plans to build mega hydro-electric plants in its

territory. And another upstream state, Tajikistan, is likewise considering hydro-electricity to satiate its own energy needs. Meanwhile, Uzbekistan is building large reservoirs. Although these plans might make sense in the very near term, they are inefficient in the medium and long term because they don't solve the real needs of downstream states for large storage capacity to protect against water variability across time. In fact, both Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan, along with Kazakhstan, will see substantial increases in water variability between now and 2050. And so, the need to share the benefits of existing large-capacity upstream reservoirs and coordinate water uses through strong and more efficient inter-state agreements is unavoidable. A stabilized Aral Sea basin would also benefit the United States. With its withdrawal from Afghanistan, Washington has been courting Uzbekistan as a potential alternative ally and provider of stability in the region. The Uzbek government seems willing to host U.S. military bases and work as a counter-weight to Russia. Kyrgyzstan is also an important regional player. The Manas Air Base, the U.S. military installation near Bishkek, is an important transit point. The country is also working with the United States to battle drug trafficking and

infiltration of criminal and insurgent groups. Regional instability could disrupt any of these strategic relationships . If the past is any indication, the

world probably does not need to worry about impending water wars. But they must recognize how tensions over water can easily fuel larger conflicts and distract states from other important geopolitical and domestic priorities. Since formal inter-state institutions are key to alleviating tensions over shared resources, it would be wise, then, for the involved governments as well as the international community to negotiate sufficiently

robust agreements to deal with impending environmental change. Otherwise, freshwater will only further frustrate stability efforts in the world's

volatile regions .

These conflicts will go global—Reilly ‘2 Kristie, Editor for In These Times, a nonprofit, independent, national magazine published in Chicago. We’ve been around since 1976, fighting for corporate accountability and progressive government. In other words, a better world, “NOT A DROP TO DRINK,” http://www.inthesetimes.com/issue/26/25/culture1.shtml)

*Cites environmental thinker and activist Vandana Shiva Maude Barlow and Tony Clarke—probably North America’s foremost water experts

The two books provide a chilling, in-depth examination of a rapidly emerging global crisis. “Quite simply,” Barlow and Clarke write, “unless we dramatically change our ways, between one-half and two-thirds of humanity will be living with severe fresh water shortages within the next quarter-century. … The hard news is this:

Humanity is depleting, diverting and pollution the planet’s fresh water resources so quickly and relentlessly that every species on earth—including our own—is in mortal danger.” The crisis is so great, the three authors agree, that the world’s next great wars will be over wate r . The Middle East, parts of Africa, China, Russia, parts of the United States and several other areas are already struggl ing to equitably share water resources . Many conflicts over water are not even recognized as such: Shiva blames the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in part on the severe scarcity of water in settlement areas. As available fresh water on the planet decreases , today’s low-level conflicts can only increase in intensity .

Our impact is based on the best scholarship—Dinar 2 SAIS Review 22.2 (2002) 229-253 Water, Security, Conflict, and Cooperation Shlomi Dinar is a Ph.D. candidate at the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies. He is concentrating in environment, negotiation, conflict, and cooperation. This paper is dedicated to the memory of Captain Jerome E. Levy. This paper benefited from the Anna Sobol Levy Fellowship, a fellowship supported by Captain Levy. The author would also like to thank Benjamin Miller, Emanuel Adler, and the editors of this journal for very constructive comments. This article was originally inspired from an essay that originally appeared in International Negotiation. Shlomi Dinar, "Negotiation and International Relations: A Framework for Hydropolitics," International Negotiation 5, no. 2 (2000).

The dichotomy of conflict and cooperation over water and its relationship to national and regional security reflects the reality of hydropolitics. While military clashes have been associated with water, the concept of security does not end with nor does it only imply armed conflict. Because

the pursuit of peace, and thus conflict and cooperation, constitutes the flip side of security, water is indeed relevant to the concept of security. It is

this phenomenon that traditionalists have cast off as irrelevant and other rejectionists of the environment-security link have ignored. Linking security with the environment does not increase the possibility that nations will engage in more armed action against other states for

the sake of natural resources such as water. Albeit minimal, evidence already exists as to the military skirmishes and military threats that have

taken place over water . Nations will engage in armed conflict and political disputes over water whether or not scholars acknowledge the link between the environment and security. Similarly, the existence of more than 3,600 water treaties, the oldest dating to

805 AD, demonstrates a rich history of cooperation [End Page 239] over water regardless of scholarly debate on cooperation and the environment. The debate regarding the link between water, conflict, and cooperation is thus futile and has become a scholarly debate marred by polemics and semantics . Given its geographical attributes, freshwater truly straddles the notion of sovereignty that traditionalists cherish so deeply and the international or regional conception that environmental globalists hold true. The problems that arise from shared water resources are both national and regional in nature . Similarly, the solutions that are needed to solve such problems are both national and regional. Most importantly for the debate on the environment and security, however, the impediments to cooperation and the instigation of conflict over water are both national and international in their sources. States in particular regions will continue to see water as a national security concern. Even though a regional agreement may be the best solution to states' water problems, they will continue to couch their need to access sufficient and clean freshwater in security and nationalist terms.

Water scarcity causes Central Asian warPriyadarshi 12 Nitish, lecturer in the department of environment and water management at Ranchi University in India, “War for water is not a far cry”, June 16, http://www.cleangangaportal.org/node/44

That's been a constant dilemma for the Central Asian states since they became independent after the Soviet break-up. Much of Central Asia's water flows from the mountains of Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, leaving downstream countries Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, and Turkmenistan dependent and worried about the effects of planned hydropower plants upstream . Tashkent fears that those two countries' use of water from Central Asia's two great rivers -- the Syr Darya and Amu Darya -- to generate power will diminish the amount reaching Uzbekistan, whose 28 million inhabitants to make up Central Asia's largest population. After the collapse of communism in the 1990s, a dispute arose between Hungary and Slovakia over a project to dam the Danube River. It was the first of its type heard by the International Court of Justice and highlighted the difficulty for the Court to resolve

such issues decisively. There are 17 European countries directly reliant on water from the Danube so there is clear potential for conflict if any of these countries act selfishly. Experts worry that dwindling water supplies could likely result in regional conflicts in the future. For example, in oil-and-gas rich Central Asia, the upstream countries of Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan hold 90 percent of the region's water resources , while Uzbekistan, the largest consumer of water in the region, is located downstream .

The impact to Central Asian water conflict culminates in extinctionBlank 2k [Stephen J. - Expert on the Soviet Bloc for the Strategic Studies Institute, “American Grand Strategy and the Transcaspian Region”, World Affairs. 9-22]

Thus many structural conditions for conventional war or protracted ethnic conflict where third parties intervene now exist in the Transcaucasus

and Central Asia . The outbreak of violence by disaffected Islamic elements, the drug trade, the Chechen wars , and the unresolved

ethnopolitical conflicts that dot the region, not to mention the undemocratic and unbalanced distribution of income across corrupt governments , provide plenty of tinder for future fires . Many Third World conflicts generated by local structural factors also have great potential for unintended escalation. Big powers often feel obliged to rescue their proxies and proteges. One or another big power may fail to grasp the stakes for the other side since interests here are not as clear as in Europe. Hence commitments involving the use of nuclear weapons or perhaps even conventional war to prevent defeat of a client are not well established or clear as in Europe. For instance, in 1993 Turkish noises about intervening on behalf of Azerbaijan induced Russian leaders to threaten a nuclear war in that case. Precisely because Turkey is a NATO ally

but probably could not prevail in a long war against Russia, or if it could, would conceivably trigger a potential nuclear blow (not a small

possibility given the erratic nature of Russia's declared nuclear strategies), the danger of major war is higher here than almost everywhere else

in the CIS or the "arc of crisis" from the Balkans to China. As Richard Betts has observed, The greatest danger lies in areas where (1) the potential for serious instability is high ; (2) both superpowers perceive vital interests; (3) neither recognizes that the other's perceived interest or

commitment is as great as its own; (4) both have the capability to inject conventional forces; and (5) neither has willing proxies capable of settling the situation.(77)

1AC SolvencyOcean desalination technology is economically feasible, sustainable, and provides a long-term solution to drought-plagued communitiesGriggs 14, Brandon, “How oceans can solve our freshwater crisis,” CNN, 6/9/14, http://www.cnn.com/2014/05/26/tech/city-tomorrow-desalination/

It's been a cruel irony for ancient mariners and any thirsty person who has ever gazed upon a sparkling blue ocean: Water, water everywhere, and not a drop to drink.¶ But imagine a coastal city of the future, say in 2035. Along with basic infrastructure such as a port, roads, sewer lines and an electrical grid, it's

increasingly likely this city by the sea will contain a newer feature.¶ A desalination plant.¶ Thanks to improved tech nology, turning ocean water into freshwater is becoming more economically feasible . And a looming global water crisis may make it crucial to the planet's future. ¶ The United Nations predicts that by 2025, two-thirds of the world's population will suffer water shortages , especially in the developing world and the parched Middle East . Scientists say climate change is making the problem worse . Even in the United States, demand for water in drought-ravaged California and the desert Southwest is outpacing supply. ¶ This is why a huge desalination plant is under construction in Carlsbad, California, some 30 miles north of San Diego. When completed in 2016, it will be the largest such facility in the Western Hemisphere and create 50 million gallons of freshwater a day.¶ "Whenever a drought

exacerbates freshwater supplies in California, people tend to look toward the ocean for an answer," said Jennifer Bowles, executive director

of the California-based Water Education Foundation. "It is, after all, a seemingly inexhaustible supply." ¶ A growing trend¶ Most desalination technology follows one of two methods: distillation through thermal energy or the use of membranes to filter salt from water.¶ In the distillation process, saltwater is heated to produce water vapor, which is then condensed and collected as freshwater. The other method employs reverse osmosis to pump seawater through semi-permeable membranes -- paper-like filters with microscopic holes -- that trap the salt while allowing freshwater molecules to pass through. The remaining salty water is then pumped back into the ocean.¶ Officials at the Carlsbad plant say they can covert two gallons of seawater into one gallon of

freshwater by filtering out 99.9% of the salt.¶ There are some 16,000 desalination plants on the planet, and their numbers are rising. The amount of desalted water produced around the world has more than tripled since 2000 , according to the Center for Inland Desalination

Systems at the University of Texas at El Paso.¶ " Desalination is growing in arid regions ," said Tom Davis, director of the center. "We are making progress in the USA, but the countries around the Persian Gulf are way ahead in the use of desalination , primarily because they have no alternative supplies of freshwater."¶ Israel, in an arid region with a coastline on the Mediterranean, meets half its freshwater

needs through desalination. Australia, Algeria, Oman, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates also rely heavily on the ocean for their municipal water. ¶ In the United States, desalination projects are concentrated in coastal states such as California, Florida and Texas.¶ Some environmentalists are wary of desalination, which consumes large amounts of energy, produces greenhouse gases and kills vital marine organisms that are

sucked into intake pipes.¶ But proponents believe the technology offers a long-term, sustainable solution to the globe's water shortages. One entrepreneur has even built an experimental solar desalination plant in California's San Joaquin Valley.¶ "When other freshwater sources are depleted , desa lination will be our best choice ," said Davis, a UTEP professor of engineering.¶ California dreaming¶ Within the United States, the water crisis is especially severe in California, which has been stricken by drought over the last three years.¶ California's biggest source of freshwater is the snow that falls in the Sierras and other mountains, where it slowly melts into creeks and makes its way into aquifers and reservoirs. But if the planet continues to grow warmer, snow will increasingly fall as rain and will be harder to collect because it will swell creeks faster and create more flooding, said Bowles of the Water Education Foundation.¶ Seventeen desalination plants are being built or planned along the state's 840-mile coastline. City officials in Santa Barbara recentlyvoted to reactivate their desalination plant, which was built in 1991 but shut after heavy rains filled nearby reservoirs in the early 1990s. Another $200 million facility has been proposed for the Bay Area, although construction won't likely begin for several years.¶ "The key question with ocean desalination is how much are you willing to pay for it? The amount of energy required to desalt ocean water can be daunting," said Bowles, adding that

operating costs at the Santa Barbara plant alone are estimated at $5 million per year.¶ But advocates believe the price of desalination will continue to decrease as the process improves. This will be true of the massive Carlsbad plant, said Bob Yamada, water resources manager with the San Diego County Water Authority.¶ "The cost for this water will be about double what it costs us to import water into San Diego," Yamada said.

"However, over time we expect that the cost of desalinated water will equal, and be less than, the cost of imported water. That may take 15 or 20 years, but we expect that to occur."¶ Ultimately, experts say, municipalities will need to balance

desalination projects with conservation and water from more traditional sources, such as rivers, reservoirs and recycled wastewater.¶ "You can't get all your water from one source and have that source be hundreds of miles away," said Peter MacLaggan, senior vice president at Poseidon Resources Corporation, which is leading development of the Carlsbad plant.¶ "When and if the drought does come, and you don't have enough snowpack in the Sierras -- after 12 dry years the Rockies are seeing the impact of that today -- you've got (water) sources here within the boundaries of San Diego County," he said.¶ "We have a $190

billion economy in this region. It's dependent on water to sustain that economy. So the question you need to consider, is 'What's the cost of not having enough water !!!!!!!!!! ?'"

The plan is critical – only federal oversight can enforce a focus on equity rather than profit and creates a framework that’s modeled internationallySellers 8 [Jefferey M. Sellers, Ph.D. in Political Science at Yale University (also J.D. and D.C.L. in Law, Yale¶ University). Currently, Associate Professor of Political Science with courtesy appoint-¶ ments in Geography and the School of Policy, Planning and Development, University of¶ Southern California, United States of America. “DESALINATION POLICY IN A MULTILEVEL¶ REGULATORY STATE,”

http://www.usc.edu/dept/polsci/sellers/Publications/Assets/Sellers%20ch%2014.pdf | prs]

Desalination in the United States stands at the threshold of a breakthrough that is likely to has far-reaching consequences for the many regions of the world where future water needs are likely to prove more ex- ¶ tensive and more severe, such as India and China. The new reverse¶ osmosis plants being developed in California will mark the first large-scale community water provision by this means in the United State s ,¶ and have the potential to pioneer technical and organizational

solutions¶ that could provide the foundation for a global market and a real solution¶ to the looming world water crisis. In the United States itself, desalination¶ is forecast to provide no more than 10% of water, but in certain regions¶ will emerge as a major supplement to overcome

droughts. Although cost ¶ considerations still limit the applicability of emerging desalination tech- ¶ nologies, public subsidies in states like California and Texas now offer ¶ the prospect of profitability for firms contemplating inv esting in the ¶ new desalination technologies. It seems likely that the further refine- ¶ ments that are likely to occur will finally bring desalination across the ¶ threshold of cost-effectiveness, at least for certain types of communities ¶ with the right combination of seawater or brackish water access and ¶ need. Indeed, local opposition on environmentalist grounds of the sort¶ that arose in Huntington Beach has remained only

scattered. In poorer ¶ communities like Long Beach (California) or Brownsville (Texas), there ¶ has been no sign of regulatory challenges to plans for desalination. Even¶ the critical issue of energy use for desalination has rarely been framed as¶ a greenhouse gas issue the way it has in Mexico or even in other areas of¶ U.S. environmental policy discussion. Instead, the energy problem has¶ been framed mostly as a matter of added cost.¶ Despite the much more centralized context of policymaking toward¶ desalination in Mexico and other developing countries, and the greater li-¶ mits on resources to invest in these

technologies, substantial lessons can¶ be drawn from this ongoing story. First, it appears likely that even before ¶ the cost of desalination has fallen to make it marketable by itself, it can ¶ be made widely cost-effective with a combination of private investment ¶ and public subsidy. Despite rising costs for the necessary energy, growing technical efficiencies are likely to continue to chip away at the ¶ costs and energy requirements for desalination. ¶ More far reaching are the implications for the ways that any kind of¶ system for public or private provision of water through desalination¶ should be organized. Private investment may be unavoidable above all¶ for desalination to be carried out in developing countries, as it is unclear¶ how else adequate investment can be generate.d to make the more effi-¶ cient larger scale reverse osmosis

projects feasible. To make privatized ¶ arrangements accountable, however, protections through regulation at ¶ multiple levels, including local review, are critical. The presence of mechanisms for local accountability like those at work in Huntington Beach¶ is a significant virtue of the U.S. regulatory system.¶ As the case of Huntington Beach also suggests, the localized, frag-¶ mented process that has helped provide for this

accountability in the Uni-¶ ted States also has major disadvantages. The localized nature of most regulation means that little attention is given to equity among place s. Not¶ only was this issue almost entirely missing from debates at Huntington¶ Beach, but the opposition centered partly on objections that the water might be distributed beyond the limits of this wealthy town itself. Mo-¶ reover, it is only in the most privileged communities like

Huntington¶ Beach that the U.S. regulatory process has given rise to challenges that¶ have forced more attention to environmental concerns. ¶ The problems of fragmented governance extend beyond this question ¶ of social and environmental equity to issues of overall efficiency . The¶ implantation of desalination plants in the United States has largely follo-¶ wed the patterns of public investment, gravitating toward the most subsi-¶ dized state

of California. But beyond this tendency, however, public ¶ planning or more systematic collective decision-making has mostly been ¶ missing. The placement of new plants has proceeded according to logics ¶ of private investment rather than policy guidance . It is by no means clear ¶ that the current placement of plants corresponds to the public need for ¶ desalination or even the demand of local consumers . Instead, investors like Poseidon appear to be focus ing on communities with greater ability to pay for the investments in plants and infrastructure for desalination ¶ technologies. ¶ Finally, the case of Tampa

and the debates in Huntington Beach sug-¶ gest that private investment itself may still be too unreliable by itself to ¶ furnish the basis for investment in desalination. State or federal regulation may ultimately be necessary to establish a stable basis for market investments and accountability in desalination projects within the United ¶ States . In these respects as well, current developments in the area in the ¶ U.S. provide a cautionary tale for other countries.

Desalination provides sustainable water resources to poor communitiesDurham et al No Date, “Integrated Water Resource Management through Integrated Water Resource Management,” International Desalination Association, http://www.bvsde.paho.org/bvsacd/cwwa/bruc.pdf

VIII. ECOMOMIC BENEFITS TO THE COMMUNITY The economic benefits to the community have to be calculated based on local priorities and costs. A tailored IWRM approach is needed to add the maximum benefit to the community. Typical benefits that support the economy include : ! Planning for a sustainable future requires a reliable knowledge of resource available, recharge, future demand and a positive involvement of the community. ! Partnerships that provide affordable water supplies to poor communities by building on local experience and skills. ! Increasing the availability of potable water and reducing the water cost by repurifying wastewater for industry and irrigation. ! Providing a drought proof water resource through reuse. ! Growing cash crops and creating employment in areas blighted by soil salinisation. ! Positively controlling saline ingress and recharge aquifers to create a sustainable water resource . ! Reducing wastewater disposal to sea and protecting bathing beaches ! Supporting the tourism industry through irrigation of landscapes and golf industry with repurified water. IX. CONCLUSION Integrated water resource management needs a holistic long-term approach. This must be supported by legislation, agreed quality standards and international finance to enable projects to take place. This is helped where one government water agency is responsible for all water resource issues - ranging from fresh water to wastewater treatment - rather than separate regulators responsible for a single part of the total solution. The only solutions to water shortage are; to maximise the efficiency of water management, reuse, desalinate or import. The increasing global experience in large high efficiency systems is continually reducing the production costs. The cost of power, finance, equipment and membranes are the key to maximising the opportunity for sustainable projects. This is where Hybrid systems can provide a real benefit by taking advantage of the process synergy between power generation, desalination, reuse and aquifer recharge in one system.

And, only desalination can curb that water shortages that megacities inflict on urban populationsDurham et al No Date, “Integrated Water Resource Management through Integrated Water Resource Management,” International Desalination Association, http://www.bvsde.paho.org/bvsacd/cwwa/bruc.pdf

Global urbanisation, the growth of mega cities , shanty towns and poor rural communities continues to challenge the water industry . Extremes in weather patterns and environmental disasters demonstrate the need for more robust and flexible water management strategies. Increased water demand from population and economic growth, high dependency on irrigation for agricultural yields and over abstraction of groundwater resulting in seawater ingress and soil salinisation are all factors that create water and food shortages, agricultural employment problems and urban growth. These problems are highly relevant as the majority of the worldís population lives near to the sea. Desalination technology is an essential tool in providing rapid and reliable alternative water sources . The majority of advanced reuse projects include desalination technology with brackish water reverse osmosis. However, it is essential to manage our ground and surface water efficiently and recognise the real value of wastewater use for aquifer recharge, indirect potable use, food production and the demands of industry.

Federal government is key—a. Only coordinated federal investment solvesNational Academies 8 (National Academy of Sciences, private, nonprofit, self-perpetuating society of distinguished scholars engaged in scientific and engineering

research, dedicated to the furtherance of science and technology and to their use for the general welfare, 2008, “Desalination: A National Perspective”, pp. 228-229, aps)

Federal Research Funding¶ The optimal level of federal investment in desalination research is inherently a question of public policy. Although the decision should be informed by science, it is not—at its heart—a scientific decision. However, several conclusions emerged from the committee’s analysis of current research and development funding (see Chapter 2) that suggest the importance of strategic integration of the research program. The committee concluded that there is no integrated and strategic direction to the federal desalination research and development efforts. Continuation of a federal program of research dominated by congressional earmarks and beset by competition between funding for research and funding for construction will not serve the nation well and will require the expenditure of more funds than necessary to achieve specified goals.¶ To ensure that future federal investments in desalination research are integrated and prioritized so as to address the two major goals identified in this report, the federal government will need to develop a coordinated strategic plan that utilizes the recommendations of this report as a basis. It is beyond the committee’s scope to recommend specific plans for improving coordination among the many federal agencies that support desalination research. Instead, responsibility for developing the plan shoul d rest with the Office of Science and Technology Policy’s ( OSTP’s) National Science and Technology Council (NSTC) because “this Cabinet -level Council is the principal means within the executive branch can to coordinate science and technology policy across the diverse entities that make up the Federal research and development enterprise.”1 For example, the NSTC’s Subcommittee on Water Availability and Quality has member-ship representing more than 20 federal agencies and recently released “A Strategy for Federal Science and Technology to Support Water Avail- ability and Quality in the United States” (SWAQ, 2007). Representatives of the National Science Foundation, the Bureau of Reclamation, the Environmental Protection Agency, the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration, the Office of Naval Research, and the Department of Energy should participate fully in the development of the strategic federal plan for desalination research and development. Five years into the implementation of this plan, the OSTP should evaluate the status of the plan, whether goals have been met, and the need for further funding.¶ A coordinated strategic plan governing desalination research at the federal level along with effective implementation of the research plan will be the major determinants of federal research productivity in this endeavor. The committee cannot emphasize strongly enough the importance of a well-organized, well-articulated strategically directed effort. In the absence of any or all of these preconditions, federal investment will yield less than it could. Therefore, a well-developed and clearly articulated strategic research plan , as called for above, should be a precondition for any new federal appropriations .¶ Initial federal appropriations on the order of recent spending on desalination research (total appropriations of about $25 million annually, as in fiscal years 2005 and 2006) should be sufficient to make good progress toward the overall research goals if the funding is strategically directed toward the proposed research topics as recommended in this report. Annual federal appropriations of $25 million, properly allocated, should be sufficient to have an impact in the identified priority research areas, given the context of expected state and private-sector funding. This level of federal funding is also consistent with NRC (2004a), which recommended annual appropriations of $700 million for research supporting the nation’s entire water resources research agenda. Reallocation of current spending will be necessary to address topics that are currently underfunded. If current research funding is not reallocated, the overall desalination research and development budget will need to be enhanced. Nevertheless, support for the research agenda stated here should not come at the expense of other high-priority water resource research topics, such as those identified in Confronting the Nation’s Water Problems: The Role of Research (NRC, 2004a).

b. Solves environment and cost concerns- state and private sector failNational Academies 8 (National Academy of Sciences, private, nonprofit, self-perpetuating society of distinguished scholars engaged in scientific and engineering

research, dedicated to the furtherance of science and technology and to their use for the general welfare) “Desalination: A National Perspective. Report in Brief.”, National Academy of Sciences, 2008, http://dels.nas.edu/resources/static-assets/materials-based-on-reports/reports-in-brief/desal_final.pdf

In order for desalination to become a more attractive option for communities facing water shortages, two overarching long-term research goals need to be met:

1. Understand the environmental impacts of desalination and develop approaches to minimize these impacts relative to other water supply alternatives, and 2. Develop approaches to lower the financial costs of desalination so that it is an attractive option relative to other alternatives in locations where traditional sources of water are inadequate. The report recommends that a coordinated, strategic plan be developed to ensure that future federal investments in desalination are integrated and prioritized and address the topics in the federal interest within the two major goals identified in this report (see Box 1). The report also recommends that environmental research be emphasized up front when implementing the research agenda, because this

research has the greatest potential for enabling desalination to help meet future U.S. water needs. The growth in desalination was made possible to a great extent by a major federal investment in desalination research and development from the late 1950s to the early 1980s. Today, however, the private sector appears to be funding the majority of desalination research, with estimated spending more than twice that of other sources of funding. Some states, specifically California, are investing in desalination research, but state funding is generally directed to site-specific or region-specific

problems, with a heavy emphasis on pilot and demonstration projects. Most of the federal funding for desalination R&D comes from Congressional earmarks which limit the ability to develop a steady research program. Furthermore, federal investments in desalination research fel l to $10 million in FY 2007, down from $24 million dollars in FY 2005 and 2006,

largely due to an absence of earmarks in FY 2007. Among the nine federal agencies and laboratories that currently fund desalination research, there is no integrated or coordinated strategic research plan, and each agency or laboratory has its own research objectives. Continuation of a federal program of research dominated by congressional earmarks will not serve the nation well. To ensure that future federal investments in desalination research are integrated and prioritized so as to address the two major goals identified in this report, the report recommends that the Office of

Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) take the lead in planning and coordinating federal research and development. Initial federal appropriations on the order of recent spending on desalination research (total appropriations of about $25 million annually) should be sufficient to make good progress toward these goals, when complemented by ongoing non federal and private- sector desalination research.