It's commonly believed that the majority of the world's conflicts have centered around religious differences or land disputes, but Dr. Yuefeng Xie offers another perspective. He maintains that water may be at the root of world conflicts, and offers his opinion Monday, Nov. 29 in a 4 p.m. presentation at Andy's Place (AH100).

Water Conflicts: From Middle East to Alberta, is the title of Xie's talk, and it asks the question, "Are so many of our conflicts over religion? Over land? Or is humanity really just fighting over water?"

Xie is a Fulbright Visiting Research Chair at the University of Lethbridge. He received his BS, MS and PhD degrees from Tsinghua University, Beijing, China. A registered professional engineer and a board certified environmental engineer, he is a professor at Pennsylvania State University. He co-founded the Small Public Water Systems Technology Assistance Center and Environmental Training Center at Penn State. Xie also has more than 25 years experience in water quality and treatment.

Starting with water conflicts between men and women, Xie will discuss conflicts in the Middle East, Kashmir, and Southeast Asia. From a water engineer's point of view, he will discuss the roots of these conflicts and potential solutions, while also discussing current and future water issues facing Albertans.

Xie has published two books, Disinfection Byproducts in Drinking Water: Formation, analysis and control, and, Disinfection By-products in Drinking Water: Occurrence, formation, health effects, and control. Xie was also the keynote speaker for the 13th Canadian National Drinking Water Conference.