|
|
WATER DAY-GULF: Forced to Look Beyond Desalination Plants
By Meena Janardhan
DUBAI, Mar 21 (IPS) - The holy month of Ramadan is a time when Muslims
retreat into fasting and prayer. Last September though, devotees near the
Saudi port city of Jeddah had violence on their minds as they broke a
day-long fast. Fists flew when told that water brought them in tankers had
run out.
Such scenarios reflect the growing problem of water shortage in the Gulf
region, presenting a significant challenge to the people and the
governments. Scanty rainfall together with high rates of evaporation and
consumption have led to deficits in ‘‘water budgets''. Population growth,
rapid urbanisation and wasteful consumption patterns have added to the
pressure.
Statistics reveal that the six Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries
have an urbanisation level of about 85 percent. As a result, the United
Arab Emirates (UAE), for example, is the world's second largest consumer
of water per capita after the United States. Its average daily domestic
consumption is 353 litres (80 gallons) per person compared to 425 litres
in the U.S.
GCC comprises Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE.
Iraq, Iran and several other Middle Eastern countries around the Persian
Gulf are not members.
A World Bank report released early March warns countries in the Gulf and
the Middle East that by 2050 per capita water availability in the region
will reduce by half. The ‘‘social, economic and budgetary consequences
could be enormous'' if governments do not accelerate reforms to deal with
water scarcity, the report said.
Ahead of World Water Day on Thursday, Mohamed Raouf, senior
environmentalist at the Gulf Research Centre (GRC) in Dubai, told IPS that
‘'the foremost strategy for sustainable use of water is to protect and
conserve the available resources''. This, he said, calls for ‘'harvesting
every drop of water through rainwater harvesting, protecting the natural
and manmade storage reservoirs as well as groundwater aquifers''.
Raof also spoke of the importance protecting traditional systems, an idea
recommended at a conference of regional environmentalists in Oman, last
year.
Mainly this involves continued operation of ‘aflaj' (a traditional
system of conveying water from its source through sloping, open channels
to irrigation points) and releasing pressure on groundwater through the
reuse of treated waste water and establishment of desalination plants.
Privatisation of water utilities is being adopted to improve the water
supply capacity and usage efficiency. For example, with the annual
consumption of water in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the UAE, being 26 times
more than its annually renewable natural water resources, the emirate
announced raising 40 billion dirhams (about 11 billion US dollars) by
privatising five power and water projects, last year.
In December, Saudi Arabia began studying a "Water Bank" project in
northern Tihama, costing 20 billion riyals (about 5.3 billion dollars), to
meet the country's demand for 21 years. The plan includes constructing
dams and reservoirs for water storage.
Since desalination plants are capital intensive, have a relatively short
life expectancy along with high maintenance costs and damage the coastal
ecosystem, governments in the region are exploring more cost effective and
long serving solutions to meet growing water demand.
Despite the many disadvantages, it appears that desalination plants are
the best option for now. Saudi Arabia, with a daily production of about
440 million gallons, is the world's largest producer of desalinated water,
followed by the UAE. The GCC countries have over half of the 11,000
desalination plants in the world. With the demand for desalinated water in
the region expected to grow at an average of six percent annually, it is
estimated that they will require an investment of over 100 billion dollars
in desalination plants over the next 10 years.
Reliance on ‘‘desalinated water alone could be a risky policy considering
the volatile nature of oil prices and revenues,'' said Raouf. ‘'The
sustainable use of groundwater resources should be a consideration in the
overall integrated water resource management policy of each country.''
Efforts to increase awareness and find alternate solutions have been so
intense that they have even touched religious frontiers with Qatar
announcing plans to install water meters in mosques to keep a watch on
consumption during the mandatory ‘wazu' or body cleaning process before
prayers.
In 2004, the UAE announced plans to use nuclear and solar energy to cut
the cost of desalinating water. And, in September last year, Oman made
public its intention to build the Gulf's biggest dam in the Quriyat area.
The construction will be completed in two years and augment drinking water
supply by 30 million cubic metres.
According to the ‘Green Gulf Report', jointly published in 2006 by the GRC
and the New Delhi-based TERI (The Energy Research Institute), the
‘‘policies developed to increase water supply and conservation have been
only partially successful in alleviating water scarcity. Policymakers have
now shifted from entirely supply solutions to demand management''.
More importantly, the report says, there is a new emphasis on integrated
water resources management, ‘‘which takes into account all the different
stakeholders in water resource planning, development and management.''
The report recommends that ‘‘efficient sectoral water allocation cannot
occur unless prices reflect the true costs of water provision and the
scarcity value of water itself. Getting the price right at the
sub-sectoral level is fundamental to achieving optimal water use.''
Raouf offered another suggestion. ‘‘The concept of ‘virtual water' holds
immense relevance for the water-scarce countries. By assessing how much
water can be saved through the import of certain food items (particularly
those that consume high amounts of water such as fodder for dairy
production), and other products such as wheat, a huge amount of water can
be saved,'' he said.
‘‘The water problem in the region is not only an environmental issue; it
is also an economic and security problem. The governments need to act
right now in order to secure water needs in short, medium and long term
for different sectors by using different policy options, technology
techniques, or even political pressure and deals that can secure water
supplies from allying countries,'' said Raouf.
(END/2007)
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
What is RSS?
