WATER AND MILITARISM 
by Shirley Farlinger
February 2006

This paper outlines the ways in which military activities and militarism impact on the issue of water. Examples are drawn from the report “The Impact of Militarism on the Environment: An Overview of Direct and Indirect Effects” by Abeer Majeed for Physicians for Global Survival (Canada).

Supply of Water
The infrastruture that enables people to have water includes water pipes, water purification plants, desalination plants, aqueducts, bridges, reservoirs, irrigation systems, wells. All of these may be damaged in war by accident or design.

Water and Chemicals
War and war preparation results in the contamination of water from chemicals. This was especially severe in Viet Nam with the use of napalm and Agent Orange over much of the land. Rains wash chemicals, such as herbicides and defoliants, into the water supplies poisoning them for many years.
The production and storage of chemical weapons has resulted in drums of toxic chemicals leaking out of dumps into water supplies. The waste from the Manhattan Project is now leaking into the land and water near Niagara Falls, New York.

Role of Forests
Trees can store water and release it gradually. When trees are destroyed by war in order to supply the troops or to remove tree cover for enemy armies, or in the exploitation of forests for export, the result is often flooding, mud slides and the washing away of topsoil which further contaminates water bodies. Mangroves and coral reefs may also be damaged.

Contamination After War
Corroding weapons left from wars leach into the surrounding soil and water. Bomb craters fill with water which become breeding areas for mosquitoes and result in malaria. Landmines have been installed around sewage and water treatment facilities and contain water soluable contaminants. In Tanzania they have even been used for fishing in Lake Tanganika

Nuclear Contamination
Contamination of water bodies from ionizing radiation can result from direct deposition from the air and discharge as effluent after a nuclear accident. Contamination can also be caused indirectly from washout from the catchments of basins. Isotopes contaminating large bodies of water are quickly distributed and tend to accumulate in bottom sediments and within living organisms, plants and fish. All operating nuclear reactors, uranium mining and reprocessing involve radiation releases.

Water and Weather
There are examples of the military manipulation of weather to increase rainfall and hamper the operations of the enemy. This resulted in Viet Nam in the seeding of clouds with silver and lead iodides which contaminated the water.

Water and Refugees
The pollution of water sources poses a major problem in refugee-receiving territories, especially in the early stages when proper sanitation has not been established. When millions of people are displaced to refugee camps the demand for water and wood is acute. Fecal contamination of water supplies in rivers, wells or oases occurs. Additional boreholes contribute to long term depletion of underground reserves, a probem further compounded in coastal areas by salt water incursion.. The land that the refugees occupy becomes infertile; the structure of the soil breaks down and may not ever be returned to its former fertility. Impoverished people everywhere may also exploit the environment just to survive. 

Water as a Cause of War
Water scarcity is both a cause of war and a result of war. As supplies of potable water become scarcer the competition for water will cause further conflicts. Environmental destruction serves as a tool of war when land upon which civilians are dependant for subsistence is targeted. Land clearing, undertaken for military control,.exposes agricultural land to enhanced effects of erosion and desertification. (2006 is the United Nations Year of Desertification).

Water and Privatization
Multinational companies are now entering the business of supplying water. These companies are backed by the threat of military intervention although some countries, e.g., Bolivia, have been able to stop the privatization of their water. Private companies want to make a profit from supplying water to thirsty countries. Even in Canada our water supplies are in danger of being privatized. People are turning to bottled water for drinking. Our trade agreements may make it impossible to stop this.
Conflict in South Africa has already arisen over water privatization.

Water and Oil
Oil is essential to military activities and the way in which it is extracted involves the use of water. Water is pumped into oil wells to remove all of the oil. This water becomes contaminated and is removed from the natural water cycle. This occurs in Alberta even with a lack of water for the cattle industry.

Water and Military Operations
Even without war the land used for military testing and training is prone to severe degradation. Bombing ranges render entire areas into wasteland while shooting ranges for tanks and artillery cause toxic contamination of soil and groundwater.

The oceans serve as training ranges for the world’s navies. For example the US training at Nanoose Bay in BC has resulted in tons of toxic wastes which affect the marine ecosystem. Submarines powered by nuclear reactors release radioactivity into the ocean.

Water and Expenditures
Massive military expenditures, military research and development and federal subsidies to the military-industrial complex all divert resources that are urgently needed for environmental protection. Under free trade rules countries are only allowed to subsidize military production. The provision of water in the form of irrigating crops in the US is not considered a form of subsidy although it makes the competition for other food exporters more difficult.

Water and Legislation
Both peacetime domestic and international environmental legislation have been inadequate in mitigating the impact of military activities on the environment. The 1976 Environmental Modification Convention (ENMOD) has not been enforced. There is a glaring failure on behalf of the environmental regulatory bodies to enforce legislation in the face of noncompliant behaviour by the military. And virtually none of the international environmental treaties address the effects of peacetime military activities on the environment.
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Shirley Farlinger, February 26, 2006
For the Peace and Justice Working Group of Toronto Conference.