Water Scarcity in MENA
•
0 likes•548 views
Water demand has greatly increased in the Middle East due to population growth, urbanization, and improved lifestyles. However, water resources are limited in many countries in the region. Agricultural use accounts for over 80% of water withdrawals in some countries. While governments have focused on developing new water supplies, policy reforms and wastewater recycling are also needed to manage rising demand. Wastewater reuse remains limited but has potential to help address the growing water crisis across the Middle East and North Africa.
Water Scarcity in MENA
- 1. Regional Spotlight: Middle East & Africa Quenching the Middle East’s Thirst Water demand has soared exponentially across the Middle East alongside population, ur- banisation and improving lifestyles. It hasn’t helped that low water tariffs are disproportion- ate to high production costs. Vivek Gautam provides an overview of MENA countries and discusses why policy reforms could be required to address demand issues. H istorically, water unavailability has been a Figure 1. Actual Annual Per Capita Renewable Water Resources key concern across the Middle East and Africa. Many countries in Middle East and North Africa (MENA) have renewable wa- ter resources per capita less than 1000 m3/year; the level that defines water scarcity. Furthermore, the geographic distribution of these limited water resources is highly uneven. Over 80% of the region is desert and receives little or no rainfall. Water supply provi- sions under such conditions have always been a key policy issue with social, economic and environmental ramifica- tions. In the past it has been erratic rainfall and prolonged drought periods, widely believed to be manifestations of climate change, which have added a new dimension to the problem. This is particularly the case with Syria, Jordan, Israel and Algeria, which are facing severe water shortages. Source: FAO Aquastat 1993-2012 While supplies are constrained, the demand for freshwater over the years has continued to increase at a rapid pace. This increase in ation. Although doing away with freshwater supply augmentation demand is a result of several interplaying forces. Across MENA, the projects may not be possible, there is a strong case in favor of tap- agricultural sector is the prime consumer of water. In some countries, ping non-conventional water resources like sewage and industrial ef- it accounts for over 80% of the total annual water withdrawals. Agri- fluents, which have traditionally been neglected. Industry experts are cultural subsidies, improving irrigation and pumping technologies and of the opinion that policy reforms are required to address demand the discovery of fossil groundwater reserves have helped expansion side issues, while addressing supply side problems require practicing of agricultural activity. integrated water resource management. GROUNDWATER SUPPLIES WASTEWATER RECYCLING In several areas, water demand for irrigation far exceeds the natu- From the economical and environmental standpoint, wastewater ral recharge of groundwater reservoirs. Over-extraction of aquifers reclamation and reuse makes good sense. It can reduce or eliminate has led to a decline in the water table. At the same time, groundwater health and environmental hazards associated with effluent discharg- quality has deteriorated due to an influx of saline water from laterally es. At the same time, it generates an alternative resource and thereby surrounding areas, excessive use of fertilisers and localised discharge prevents immediate investment in costly water supply schemes (stor- of brine and sewage effluent into deserts. age, transfer or desalination plants). In the case of the municipal sector, water demand has been soar- Despite these potential benefits, so far wastewater reuse across ing due to growing population, urbanisation and improving lifestyles. most MENA countries has remained limited. One of the impeding In the resource-rich Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries, per factors is inadequate wastewater infrastructure. Though MENA capita household consumption is much higher that the per capita countries have made considerable progress in extending sewage consumption in some developed societies. For instance, in Abu Dha- collection network in urban areas, treatment capacities remain un- bi, the per capita demand varies from 170-200 liters per day in flats even. Much of the collected wastewater is discharged without any to as high as 270-1760 liters per day for people living in villas. treatment into the sea or desert. Even where a considerable percent- In urban areas, a large proportion of desalinated water is used age of the collected wastewater is treated, societal perceptions have for household gardening, maintaining public and private parks, car Figure 1. Per Capita Water Consumption for Select Countries washing, etc. Water tariffs are low and disproportionate to the high production cost, thereby allowing such extravagant use of this scarce liters/capita/day resource. Besides agricultural and municipal sector, expanding in- United Arab Emirates 653 dustrial activity too has contributed its fair share towards the overall Bahrain 571 water demand. Kuwait 441 With many countries approaching the limit of water resource devel- Jordan 143 opment and others reeling under severe supply shortages, the prob- Palestine 50 lem of water scarcity is turning into a crisis. Governments and planning agencies are being forced to think of alternative options to ease the situ- Source: Economic & Social Council West Asia (ESCWA), 2009 38 February/March | 2009 www.wwinternational.com
- 2. Jordan’s Disi water conveyance Regional Spotlight: Middle East & Africa project involves a 325-km pipeline being built through the Jordanian desert to Abu Alanda and Dabuk reservoirs. kept the demand for reclaimed wastewater low. However, considering the fact that MENA countries are facing a situation of dwindling renew- able water resources per capita and an ever-increasing demand, it may no longer be possible to neglect this valuable resource. Planning agencies have to con- template ways to realise the po- tential of wastewater as a water supply resource. enhance water supplies. Ashkelon desalination plant, which is the In a bid to bring best technologies and adoption of international largest reverse osmosis-based plant across the world, was opened in best practices in development and management of wastewater infra- 2005. It is expected to provide 100 million m3/year of desalinated wa- structure, GCC countries have embarked upon privatisation of such ter. Algeria, too, has favored seawater desalination to ensure continu- utilities. National Water Company in Saudi Arabia has rolled out a ous water supplies irrespective of the rainfall. In 2008 it implemented two-phase strategic transformation initiative to develop wastewater four desalination plants with total capacity of 720,000 m3 /year. Since infrastructure in 15 cities. Similarly, Haya Water (Oman Wastewater desalination has become more affordable over the years due to tech- Services Company) has prepared a three-phase wastewater master nological advances, it will not be surprising if more nations opt for it. plan for the Muscat governorate with an objective to cover 80% of the population by 2014. WATER CONSERVATION AND DEMAND MANAGEMENT Many private sector residential projects and townships too have In recent times, there has been an increasing realisation that the set-up wastewater treatment plants, in some cases even with tertiary MENA region has to be more cautious when using a resource as treatment. At the same time, to address the issue of low demand indispensable and scarce as water. Planning agencies and water au- for treated wastewater several alternative uses are being considered. thorities feel that an incessant supply addition may not be the most Israel, Jordan and Tunisia’s experience in wastewater reuse suggests pragmatic approach to deal with the water scarcity issue. application of treated sewage effluent (TSE) for agriculture, forestry Accordingly, authorities are contemplating both technological and and ground water recharge. policy measures to promote efficient usage of water. For instance, Besides this, in the last few years the water demand for non-po- Abu Dhabi’s water resources master plan suggests bringing down table applications such as landscaping, golf courses, district cooling, transmission and distribution losses from the current 17% to 10%. construction work, etc. has gone up significantly, thereby providing On the policy side, a progressive increase in water tariffs is being alternative avenues for wastewater reuse. Initiatives are required on advocated. Among other water conservation measures, recently the behalf of the local authorities to bring in the necessary changes in Environmental Agency Abu Dhabi (EAD) has announced a drive to regulation, redraft guidelines and open up these areas for use of re- install flow restrictors in 55,000 households and 5,000 public build- claimed wastewater. ings. These devices can reduce the flow of water from 12 litre/min to 3-6 litre/min and should result in considerable water savings. SUPPLY AND DEMAND The agricultural sector, the largest and most inefficient consumer Over the last five decades, supply augmentation has been the of water across MENA, presents greatest potential for water con- central approach to deal with water scarcity. The resource rich GCC servation. Many experts have suggested bringing about a shift in countries, with little renewable water, have invested heavily in seawa- crop patterns and encouraging drought tolerant varieties. However, ter desalination. Countries with considerable surface water resourc- governments have been slow in implementing such measures since es, such as Egypt, Lebanon, Syria and Morocco have focused on social implications can be wide-ranging and less understood. In building water conveyance and storage structures. Also throughout comparison, encouraging adoption of advanced and more efficient MENA much effort has been made towards discovery and develop- irrigation techniques is much favored. For instance, Morocco’s new ment of fossil groundwater aquifers. water strategy has set a target to convert 480,000 ha, over a 10- While in the present context, the importance of measures for water year period, into drip from the existing surface irrigation. Syria, too, demand management and wastewater reclamation and reuse can- is providing strong incentives to farmers to shift from surface to drip not be understated, these may not be sufficient to plug the demand- irrigation. A fund has been set up to assist this modernisation. supply gap. Although Israel and Jordan have wastewater reuse rates The water supply situation in the MENA region is precarious. To- as high as 80%, they have adopted highly efficient irrigation tech- day, it presents the biggest risk to the sustained socio-economic nologies (drip irrigation). Jordan’s Disi water conveyance project is development of the region. Any future strategies to deal with this one such attempt. The US$1 billion project involves construction and increasingly challenging situation must consider wastewater reuse, operation of a 325-Km pipeline to transfer water extracted from the water conservation and demand management as a central part Disi well field in Jordan’s southern desert to Abu Alanda and Dabuk of the solution. WWi reservoirs. The project should deliver 100 million m3 of water every year and help address acute water shortages in the capital city of Author’s note: Vivek Gautam is an industry analyst, envi- Amman and surrounding areas. ronment and building technologies practice, South Asia and Unlike Jordan, Israel has a long coastline along the Mediterranean Middle East for Frost & Sullivan. For feedback/enquiries please Sea, hence a number of desalination plants have been planned to email: tanu.chopra@frost.com Enquiry No. 111 www.wwinternational.com February/March | 2009 39