For people in many parts of the world, accessing water is as simple as switching on the kitchen faucet or adjusting the shower temperature. Yet, for the four billion people worldwide who live in water-scarce regions for at least one month of the year, drought remains a pressing issue threatening prosperity. Reduced access to water brings health dilemmas, an unstable economy, environmental and social injustices and, most prevalently, international conflict.

As hotbeds of political disagreement with limited water reservoirs, the nations of the Middle East use water shortage as “a tool of oppression, a tool of control,” says Sera Young, assistant professor of anthropology and global health at Northwestern University. Seeking to further explore these issues, Professor Young, along with Aaron Packman, the director of the Northwestern Center for Water Research, and Elie Rekhess, associate director for Israel Studies at the Crown Family Center for Jewish and Israel Studies, hosted the fourth annual Symposium on Water in Israel and the Middle East at Northwestern’s Evanston campus in early May.

The day-long event included remarks from Yaakov Garb, a senior lecturer at Ben Gurion University, Yochanan Kushnir, a research professor at Columbia University’s Earth observatory, Jim Yoon, a water security and resilience scientist, and Giora Shaham, the director of The Government Authority for Water and Sewage, Israel. Discussing both the severity of water insecurity and potential solutions, these speakers shed light on the importance of working toward reform in regulating transboundary bodies of water.

“Policymakers have recognized that [water] will end up being as important as questions about Jerusalem or refugees or borders of security,” says Sara Hirschhorn, visiting assistant professor in Israel Studies at Northwestern. “It’s definitely part of this whole matrix of what a peace process or two-state solution might look.” In contrast to the political debate focused on current situations, those working on water policy imagine solutions jetting 50 years into the future.

While water scarcity pits nations against each other, Rekhess hopes to transform the limited resource into a force of unity. “We are continuously looking for ways to see how water can bring together the people rather than divide,” he says.

To instill that sense of camaraderie, in 2016, the Northwestern Center for Water Research and the Crown Family Center for Jewish and Israel Studies partnered to create a class exploring water in Israel and the Middle East. “The Israel Studies Group … has been trying for the last four years to expand the traditional definition of the Israel Studies discipline and go beyond the classic teaching of history, politics [and] conflict,” Rekhess says, adding, “We therefore stretched our interests to technology and science.” Riding the success of the class, the two departments expanded the partnership to include a trip where 12 Northwestern students travel to Israel and learn about both ancient water systems and current technology.

As a historian seeking to learn more about the technical aspects of Israel studies, Hirschhorn adds that this collaboration shows “the relevance of the country the size of New Jersey to larger debates that are happening on campus, major trends in all of our disciplines and trying to integrate Israel into that conversation.”

Within Northwestern’s community, the symposium, class and annual Israel trip emphasize the importance of creating relationships across academic fields and expose students to global issues. “[The conversation] touches upon one of the most urgent global environmental crises that the world faces today, namely water scarcity,” Rekhess says.