The primary source of contention in the Middle East today is not oil, religion or politics.
It is water.
At least that is whatProfessor of Earth and Environmental Science Robert Giegengack said yesterday in a presentation entitled "Interstate/International Watersheds as Strategic Systems."
In his lecture, Giegengack gave an overview of the complexities of water allocation and river management regarding the Euphrates and Tigris rivers.
He spoke of how these issues are of great concern to countries such as Turkey, Iraq, Iran and Israel.
Before a crowd of roughly 40, Giegengack underlined the point that if the Middle East had a well-organized system to preside over the challenges of equally distributing water to nations such as Turkey and Iraq, greater stability might result.
"Distrust and arguments regarding water rights [are] a leading cause of hostility among these nations," Giegengack said.
Levels of international cooperation concerning water allocation "are not cost effective," he said.
If a system such as the Delaware River Basin Commission -- which handles water supply issues concerning the Catskills watershed and New York City -- was in place in the Middle East, equal resource distribution would be possible and hostilities could potentially diminish, Giegengack said.
"Water is the single most important issue in the Middle East," he said.
"If they could trust each other, it might be possible to better share a limited number of resources," he added.
Giegengack's presentation -- which took place in the Towne Building -- seemed to be well received by those in attendance.
"Dr. Giegengack did a very good job in offering a holistic view of systems design," said Engineering Professor Iraj Zandi, who organized the Anthony Bartolomeo Lecture Series on Creativity in Design, of which yesterday's lecture was a part.
In creating the series, Zandi "wanted to show the students how to think creatively," he said.
"Just as faculty attend seminars to see how others think about problems of the world, I want my students to learn how systems can help solve challenging problems facing us today," he continued.
To that end, students said they found the lecture interesting.
"This is really applicable to seeing the importance of project management," Engineering senior Amy Micka said.
"It would be a real benefit if the various schools at Penn were to make more of an effort to have cross-school programs such as this," she said.
Giegengack echoed this feeling. "It would be great if the schools [at Penn] shared more resources."
