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-- a note from _kt75 ( updated : 2012-11-12 ) The most essential good, water, comes under economic pressure. A number of reports document sharply rising prices for water among others in the USA, e.g. [ 1 ]- [ 4 ], Europe, e.g. [ 5 ]-[ 7 ] and Asia/Australia, e.g. [ 8 ] - [ 10 ] etc. Accordingly, for the USA an increase between 5-15% is prognosticated. Israel, with a reported increase in water consumption by 6% in 2011 [ 11 ] is about to raise water rates by about 4% in 2013 [ 12 ] . In Europe the price per m3 of water will raise up to 5% [ 5 ], [ 7 ], [ 13 ]. The reasons for the increasing water prices are diverse. Some are of technical nature (outdated infrastructure, installation of new equipment), some are of social nature (pension costs for water workers). However, the price of water is increasingly liable to some artificial manipulation, i.e. speculation [ 1 ], [ 2 ]. It seems to be rather questionable and actually critical (in particular from a social ...

-- a note from kt75 In the past a number of articles addressed the issue of water shortages especially in Mid-East [ 1 ]- [ 4 ]. Focus in this region is on the Jordan valley and in particular on the so-called Disi-Aquifer [ 5 ], [ 6 ]. Accordingly, and despite the fact that the Disi-Aquifer constitutes an almost non-renewable water resource (fossil water) the exploitation seems to have started seriously [ 5 ], [ 7 ]. This obviously also due to social pressure (refugees from Syria) [ 8 ], [ 9 ]. All this affects the water supply conditions in the Mid-East region adversely [ 10 ]-[ 12 ] and represents a huge challenge in terms of political and economic decision making [ 13 ], [ 14 ]. Most importantly is certainly the insight that fossil water resources represent non-renewable water sources. They may help facilitate safe water supply for a short time but (due to almost nonexistent replenishment) may not be considered as durable long-term water supply alternative. Further read...