Almost nothing lasts forever, and that includes precious water supplies. Although we tend to take water for granted, the situation in Egypt offers a warning about the finite nature of this precious natural resource.

Most of us are familiar with the problems of declining American water sources such as the Colorado, Missouri, Mississippi and Arkansas rivers. There was a time when we were inclined to consider such streams inexhaustible. We’ve found there are many reasons to worry what the future might bring and how long our excesses will be entertained by rivers we need so badly.

Internationally, we have heard often about such rivers as the Amazon, the Nile and the Ganges. Seemingly they are going to last forever. But they won’t, as we were reminded recently regarding the Nile.

After three years of closed-door talks, nine nations are quietly edging toward a deal to jointly oversee and protect the waters of the Nile. We’re informed that such stewardship has been on the table since the days of the pharaohs.

The pact in progress is designed to right a colonial-era wrong that reserved the world’s longest river for irrigation in Egypt and Sudan, effectively denying its waters to Uganda and other countries. Word is that nature may be pushing political leaders to some kind of compromise.

Drought and heat have lowered the level of Lake Victoria, the huge body of water that starts the Nile’s 4,000-mile journey from Uganda to the Mediterranean sea.

“One of the greatest realizations is that the water of the Nile or Lake Victoria are finite. They can be depleted,” says a regional project manager. “The issue is how can people come together and best manage them today and tomorrow.”

Longterm planners see irrigated crops from central Africa feeding Egypt, and Ethiopian dams supplying hydroelectric power across the region. Long ago, Egyptian pharaohs tried to take steps to stop any blockages of the Nile.

Almost all Egypt’s water comes from the Nile. In dispute is a 1929 treaty that, with a 1959 side deal, guarantees 89 percent of the river flow for Egypt and Sudan and forbids people upriver to build, without Egyptian approval, irrigation or other projects that might significantly reduce water volume. Egypt maintains river inspectors in Uganda to police the situation.

Just as Americans are trying to determine the best and fairest ways to manage their river waters, so are people in other lands forced to do a better job of handling what they have. Again, the water supplies on this planet are not endless, and only careful handling of them will prevent devastation down the line.

Fresh water is the nation’s, as well as the world’s, most precious natural resource.