The Water Pollution Resulting from the Devils Lake Flooding - Case Study Example

ARE ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES LIKELY TO BE THE CAUSES OF TENSION OR CONFLICT WITHIN AND BETWEEN S College Name 30th March, 2012 Tension and Conflict Caused by the Devil’s Lake Water Pollution Environment refers to the surrounding where organisms inhabit; it is composed of aspects such as air, water, and food among other things which are meant to sustain life for both plants and living beings (Arnold, 1997). Owing to the critical role played by the environment, nations have prioritized on it to prevent any problems resulting from environmental interference. Despite such precaution, the environment is still surrounded by several controversies which have not only caused tension or conflict within states, but also between states. The purpose of this paper is to explore how the water pollution resulting from the Devil’s lake flooding has caused tension or conflicts within and between states with the understanding that such environmental issue has drawn a lot of controversies within the global world. Effects of Devil’s Lake Flooding Causes Tension and Conflict Within and Between States Devil’s lake is a closed-basis with no outlets or inlets. This has practically made it difficult for the water level in the lake to be regulated. The worse situation that has occurred at Devil’s Lake is the inability for its levels to be reduced whenever there is excess rainfall or cold weather. As such, its catchment area has increased with more than 27 feet since 1993 thereby resulting to flooding that has left a region of about 150, 000 acres divested not only in terms of flooding, but also destroyed the geography and the human habitation of the place. With such condition, it is obvious that those displaced and affected as a result of flooding water pollution of the Devil’s lake are ever on the neck of the government to resolve the issue. This is not only within the US and Canada, but also between the two States (Leistritz, Leitch and Bangsund, 2002). One negative impact that has resulted from the Devil’s Lake flooding is the destruction of the drainage system in the various cities which are located within the 150, 000 acres of land where the flooding has taken hostage. In most cases, when major flooding such as the one being experienced at Devil’s Lake occurs, it destroys the drainage system of the region. The aftermath resulting from destroyed drainage include water pollution as a result of spilling of raw sewage out into other water bodies. This issue has not only caused tension within the US, but also created tension between US and Canada. For instance, Minnesota has in the past placed the federal government into task over the quality of water that should be used under the Clean Water Act and the Boundary Waters Treaty Act of 1909 (Arnold, 1997). Such controversies show that, the destruction of water drainage resulting from the Devil’s flooding had caused tension both within and between the above states because of the fear of water pollution; this prompted the need for a clear line to be drawn on the allowable water usage. Flooding Consumes Tax Payers’ Money: The other reason for tension and conflict within and between states resulting from flooding is the fact that such environmental issues usually have a cost implication which has to be paid for by the taxpayers. For instance, it is estimated that if the flooding continues, the US government will be forced to spend over $ 1 billion on only a few aspects of the Devil’s Lake flooding such as buying the flooded areas and constructing dikes to improve and control flooding. In addition, the federal government will be forced to spend another $27 million on constructing floodwater-diversion besides some cost that are to manage the drainage pumps (Leistritz, Leitch and Bangsund, 2002). Spending such huge sums of taxpayers’ money will definitely cause tension within and between States; if other States in US are not to benefit from such project at all. The other practical example of conflict associated with flooding is the case of the Great Salt Lake in Utah States. The flooding at Utah States forced the States of Utah to spend $ 70 million on pumps that were meant prevent floods form causing further water pollution after the situation became catastrophic in 1980’s. This response was not instant, but only after the situation had transcended the State’s to interstate concern. Ironically, the pumps became irrelevant when drought hit the region immediately after Utah had been forced to spend fortune on the Great Salt Lake. Therefore, it is possible that tension and conflict must have resulted within and between Utah and other States due to the feeling that other States and citizen’s concern had forced the State to spend fortune on an environmental catastrophe that was not going to last. Severe Flooding Has Great Impact Both Within and Between States: Research shows that severe flood usually has considerable impact on the environment such as damaging of buildings. Some of the environmental impacts associated with severe floods including water pollution resulting from toxic substances from paints, pesticides and gasoline that eventually find their way into the water bodies. This is the typical situation that has been experienced at the Devil’s Lake; there has been severe water pollution that has resulted from the overflow to the Stump Lake. According to the scientists, if such situation continuous, then it is most probable that the Devil’s Lake level will rise and pollute Sheyenne River in case of spill over. This situation has not only caused environmental tension and conflict within and between Minnesota and other State, but has also drawn political tensions. Mitigation Program for Resolving Water Pollution resulting from Floods is usually surrounded with Politics: In most cases, mitigation programs designed to control an environmental issue such as water pollution resulting from floods are never free from politics thereby creating room for tension and conflict within and between nations. For instance, the Democratic MP for Manitoba is reported to be blaming the US for not taking immediate action to stop the government of Canada from diverting the Devil’s Lake floods because of the perceived pollution that it was to create in the surrounding waters. According to the MP, they had used diplomatic measures to sort out the issue with Canada. However, to their dismay, the Canadian government was persuaded in ensuring that they diverted the flooding in order not to prevent water pollution. Such move drew a lot of controversy as well as political tension and conflict between the US and Canada as far as the Devil’s Lake flooding was concerned. Nonetheless, the project on Devil’s Lake that was initiated to prevent floods from polluting water in the North Dakota was also met with critics that have since then been linked to lack of political good will and inability of the State to admit that water from the Devil’s Lake is polluted. According to Ryves, Battarbee and Fritz (2009), it is naturally known that floods cause water pollution and carry with it parasites and water born diseases. This is what the critics of the Devil’s Lake have based their argument on; diverting such water would endanger the aquatic species in regions such as Sheyenne River and Lake Winnipeg. However, the inhabitants of North Dakota have since refuted such claim. The different viewpoints that were created by the Devil’s Lake water pollution mitigation process automatically justified the difference often witnessed within and between States whenever there are differences in the quest for political superiority. Under normal circumstances it is expected that the U.S and the Canadian politicians would have left the mitigation of the Devil’s Lake water pollution in the hands of a joint Environmental Committee between US and Canada to look into the matter (USMessageBoard, 2012). However, none of the politicians was willing to take such stand because of the entrenched move to either offend or defend the inhabitants of North Dakota. In fact, the politics that surrounded the Devil’s Lake water pollution mitigation became clearer when the federal officials opposed the move citing that the proposal that had been made by house two years ago was different from the document they were debating. Eventually such politics settled on the fact that there was need to pursue the US government and those allied to Canada for the parties to realize that diverting the Devil’s Lake floods would greatly pollute water; majority’s decision carried the day and left those opposed to the move bitter and graving (Ryves, Battarbee and Fritz, 2009). The other controversy that has been associated with environmental issues such as the water pollution resulting from the Devil’s Lake floods is the differences in interests attached to such issues. Prior to 2009, Devil’s Lake had only been realising 100 cubic meters of discharge; imposed less pollution into the water bodies. However, in mid-2009, the North Dakota water commission was reported to pursue the possibility of increasing the discharge to 250 cubic meters and if they could operate the discharge without a permit. This meant that much discharge was going to be released into Lake Winnipeg hence greater water pollution. Although North Dakota Water Commission eventually succeeded in their move to discharge 250 cubic meter of waste water into Sheyenne River, Canada considered such move to be controversial since it would endanger aquatic life and result into loss of income generated from fishing and tourism. In conclusion, it is evident that environmental issues such as water pollution caused by Devil’s Lake floods discussed in this paper usually impacts on States negatively. These negative impacts have always been realized either within or between States thereby resulting to tensions and conflicts. From research, the tensions and conflicts are attributed to politics, lack of concern to the environment, fear of loss of aquatic life and tourism and unprecedented expenditure of taxpayer’s money. References Arnold, R 1997, Ecology wars: Environmentalism as if it matters, The Free Enterprise Press, Bellevue, WA. Bennertt, J 2001, The meaning of environmental security: Ecological politics and policy in the new security era, Zed, London. Carter, N 2001, The politics of the environmental ideas, activism, policy, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. Dryzek, J 2005, The politics of the Earth, QUP, Oxford. Leistritz, LF, Leitch, J & Bangsund, D 2002, ‘Regional economic impacts of water management alternatives: the case of Devil’s Lake, North Dakota, USA’, Journal of Environmental Management, vol. 66, no. 4, pp. 466-473. 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