Experts and government officials will be coming to Des Moines in October to talk about water.The Iowa-based “World Food Prize Foundation” will host a discussion of freshwater shortages and regional water security. World Food Prize president Kenneth Quinn says it’s a timely topic.Quinn says the head of the C-I-A recently issued a report which concluded that by the year 2015, water could be one of the leading causes of international conflict.Quinn says you need look no further than Iowa’s western border to see a water dispute, the one about the flow of the Missouri River that pits South Dakota and its Missouri River reservoirs against Iowa and other states. Quinn says the symposium — scheduled for October 24th and 25th — will feature the former director of the World Food Program who will talk about the water situation in Afghanistan.Quinn says an Israeli and a Palestinian who’re experts on water will speak, too.Quinn says the leaders of several Middle East centers studying ways to grow things in salt water. Researchers working in river basins in Vietnam, as well as some U-S water experts will be part of the debate.
