Why is water a national security issue?

• Access to safe drinking water is a critical health issue in the developing world. Poor people are dying for lack of safe water.
• 1.1 Billion people in Africa, Asia and Latin America lack access to safe water.
• Water has been at the heart of conflict throughout recorded history (see http://www.worldwater.org/conflict.htm).
• Water is particularly valuable in the Middle East.
• Freshwater may become the oil of the late 21^st century.