On Waternet

Water wars? They have been predicted since the 1970s. Egypt’s president Anwar Sadat once warned that water scarcity was “the only matter that could take Egypt to war again.”

Since then, numerous indicators have shown increasing pressure on water resources. Water scarcity is real — and growing. Yet the anticipated “water wars” have failed to materialise. On the contrary, societies have often proven more resilient than expected in coping with scarcity.
And still, the idea of water wars persists in media narratives and political discourse. Why? In whose interest? And who ultimately stands to lose?

This website starts from these questions.
We focus on two river basins in geopolitically sensitive regions: the Nile River Basin and the Jordan River Basin. Bringing together data on water availability and use, we aim to better understand what water scarcity actually looks like in these contexts. From there, we unpack the gap between dominant narratives of scarcity and security and the realities of water politics on the ground.
We explore how water intersects with development and how the governance of increasingly scarce resources relates to conflicts over access and control — especially when geopolitics, ideology, and notions of “security” begin to shape outcomes.

The site is organized into three main sections: Nile River Basin, water politics in the Jordan River Basin, and a broader global perspective on international water resources.

Welcome — and explore.

The contradiction of 'development' and 'security'

Below, we discuss the context of the website.

Water does not recognize political or administrative borders. It follows only gravity, flowing from higher to lower ground along pathways shaped over centuries. From a hydrological perspective, there is just one meaningful boundary: the line that separates watersheds.

Watersheds and political and administrative borders - made by man - form an uneasy combination. These borders divide a single natural system into segments that can be owned, governed, and also contested. Too often, this division follows the logic of “what is mine is not yours.” Such fragmentation makes it difficult to manage water as the interconnected system it truly is. Governance becomes piecemeal—often contradictory, competitive, and ultimately suboptimal—affecting everyone within the basin.
When this happens, states—responsible for the welfare of their citizens—are left to justify why effective, coordinated water governance and reliable water services remain out of reach. In many cases, “water scarcity” is invoked as an excuse, masking deeper issues of governance.

As states compete over limited water resources, concerns about national security frequently emerge. Water becomes politicized—or: securitized—and shifts from being a shared resource that brings neighbors together, to a source of division. Invoking water as a national security issue, its rationale often intertwined with ideology, makes cooperation more difficult, even when it is essential for the wellbeing of all.

This is not to suggest that water challenges can be solved through technical fixes alone. On the contrary, water isinherently political. It is central to development and closely tied to concepts such as equity, need, wellbeing, and justice. These dimensions do not align easily with power-driven politics focused on control, threat, and dominance.

In regions such as the Middle East and the Nile River Basin, water is highly securitized. Historical and ongoing tensions have given rise to narratives of “water wars” and “rivers of fire”—images readily embraced by popular media. At first glance, the idea of violent conflict over scarce water resources may seem plausible in regions already marked by political instability and military confrontation. It is easy to imagine water scarcity exacerbating tensions in the Israeli–Arab context or fueling rivalries involving Turkey, Kurdish regions, Saudi Arabia, or Iran.

However, past experience suggests that cooperation is more common than conflict when it comes to international water resources. Even today, despite rising tensions between Egypt and Sudan on one side and Ethiopia on the other over Nile River dams, opposing parties continue to meet and negotiate within frameworks such as the Nile Basin Initiative.

Read more:

• Article: Security as a threat to development in the Nile River Basin
• Article: Israeli water policy in a regional context of conflict

Water and war in Gaza

In Gaza, we see that water is now being used as weapon by the Israeli army, in its effort of ethnic cleansing. Intentionally damaging water infrastructure and denying Palestinians access to their water resources violate international humanitarian law, but it is common practice in Palestine for more than 58 years.

Read more …

World Water Day 2026: in Flanders, mostly men are in charge

The theme of World Water Day 2026 is “Water and Gender Equality.”
Water and gender equality in Flanders—what should we understand by that? Here, women and girls no longer have to carry jugs and barrels of water home every day, because drinking water simply comes out of the tap. Does that mean “water and gender equality” is only a “Third World problem,” an issue that does not really concern us in highly developed Flanders?

That is why we take an approach focused on “gender and leadership” in the policy and management of (drinking) water. Who makes the decisions—in other words, who exercises power and influence in the drinking water sector?

Continue to read this article in Dutch.

Read more …