Iran and Syria have also built dams that reduce the flow of rivers that feed the Tigris and Euphrates, allowing salt water from the Persian Gulf to infiltrate the Shatt al-Arab waterway where the twin rivers converge. The salt has destroyed rich agricultural land in the south and wiped out much of the huge date farms for which Iraq was famous.
Half a century ago, Israel built the National Water Carrier canal diverting water from the Sea of Galilee, which is fed by the Jordan River. That turned the Jordan downstream of the Galilee into a muddy stream, which Israel prevents the Palestinians from using.
Jordanian and Syrian dams on the river's tributaries have added to the problem, reducing the flow of the Jordan by 90 percent.
And according to the World Bank, Israel also takes 87 percent of the West Bank aquifers, leaving the Palestinians only 13 percent. The result is that Israelis on the West Bank have access to 240 liters a day per person. Israeli settlers get an extra 60 liters a day, leaving the Palestinians only 75 liters a day. The World Health Organization's standard is 100 liters a day for each individual.
At 4,184 miles in length, the Nile River is the world's longest -- Brazil disputes the claim -- and traverses 10 African countries. It is Egypt's lifeblood providing both water and rich soil for the country's agriculture. But a combination of drought and dams has reduced its flow over the past several decades.
Ethiopia is currently building an enormous dam for power and irrigation on the Blue Nile. The source of the Blue Nile is Lake Tana in the Ethiopian highlands. The Egyptian Nile is formed where the Blue Nile and the White Nile -- its source is Lake Victoria in Uganda -- converge in the Sudan at Khartoum. Relations between Egypt and Ethiopia were initially tense over water but have eased somewhat with the two sides agreeing to talk about how to share it.
But with climate change accelerating, the issue of water -- or the lack thereof -- is going to get worse, not better, and resolving the problems will take more than bilateral treaties about sharing. And there is hardly agreement about how to proceed.
One strategy has been privatization.
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