.
In this respect it is necessary to mention that a large part of the available freshwater resources is situated in rivers where many of them cross borders of countries. Such countries are interconnected by using their water potential. The countries that lie up the stream may influence quality and especially flow rate of water, which may lead to some harm of neighboring countries or blackmailing in case of disputes. In the past years there have been several conflict situations that were connected with the issue. Especially, it applies to the countries lying on the lower reaches of great rivers, mainly the ones of which population is growing fast. In this context Egypt is especially vulnerable. Building dams in Turkey and Syria on the upper reaches of the Euphrates reduced the flow rate of the river in Iraq, which led to tension between the countries. .
Obviously, the conflict potential of the countries varies. The highest one is in the river basins of the Jordan, Tigris and Euphrates, Indus and Nile since apart from the issue of water distribution among the individual countries there are other significant contradictions that have burdened relations in the region for several decades. Conflict potential is also hidden in lakes that are shared by several countries. There is a well-known issue of the Caspian Sea, however, since that is a reservoir of salt water, the issue is not about the distribution of water but about crude oil and gas deposits. The disputes that relate to water resources include: Chad Lake, Malawi, Ukerewe, Tanganyika, Titicaca and other lakes. Particularly, it is necessary to realize that out of the total volume of water on our planet (1,386,000 thousand km3) freshwater forms only 2.5% (35,029 thousand km3). Major part of that is bound, particularly, in the ice and permanent snow cover. Usable percentage of freshwater resources amounts to 200,000 km3, i.e. less than one per cent of the entire volume of freshwater on Earth and only 0.