What’s the big deal about water scarcity?
“For years wars were fought over oil,” said U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris earlier this year. “In a short time they will be fought over water.” Given that more than 70 per cent of our planet is covered in water — all told that’s more than one billion trillion liters of the stuff — a short time might sound a bit dramatic. After all, there’s always been enough to go around. … While some places are flooding, others are in near permanent drought — 85 per cent of California is currently in extreme or “exceptional” drought and towns and agricultural areas are running out of water.