The threat to world water supplies posed by biofuels has come to the surface following a water conference in Copenhagen earlier this week. It is worth reading Adam Cox's feature on Planet Ark for an interesting analysis of some of the issues raised.
In addition to Prince Willem-Alexander's comments, Cox says
This can mean using up water as well as land -- a reminder that biofuel crops themselves can carry severe risks for the environment, especially if hitherto unfarmed land is converted to agriculture with large amounts of fertiliser and irrigation.030.The International Water Management Institute, which led a five-year global study on water involving more than 700 researchers, found that if China and India pursued their current biofuel plans, they faced water scarcity by 2
It will be interesting to see if this pressure grows sufficiently to slow or stop biofuel production.