Tag Archives: Desalination

Climate Change Impacts in Kuwait

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Kuwait is facing a wide range of climate change challenges including sea level rise, water scarcity, desertification and loss of diversity. Kuwait is characterized by high temperature, high humidity and arid lands resulting in seriously degraded soil and land damage in addition to salt intrusion in the aquifers affecting the small scale agricultural lands thus enhancing the food security threat in the region. Since 1975, Kuwait has experienced 1.50C to 20C increase in temperature, which is significantly higher than the global average. In recent years, there has been a sharp change in rainfall pattern in Kuwait which may be attributed to … Continue reading →

Water-Energy-Food Nexus in Arab Countries

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Addressing water scarcity, both natural and human-induced, in the Arab region is considered one of the major and most critical challenges facing the Arab countries. This challenge is expected to grow with time due to many pressing driving forces, including population growth, food demand, unsettled and politicized shared water resources, climate change, and many others, forcing more countries into more expensive water sources, such as desalination, to augment their limited freshwater supplies. The heavy financial, economic, environmental, as well as social costs and burden to be borne cannot be overemphasized. Furthermore, the water scarcity challenge in the Arab world is being … Continue reading →

Sustainable Water Management and River Rehabilitation in Jordan Valley

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In the context of EcoPeace Middle East's recently released Regional Integrated NGO Master Plan, the key challenge in sustainable water management is to overcome the water scarcity related problems  in the Jordan Valley. This means creating a sustainable water supply system that meets the current and future domestic and agricultural water demands; and at the same time preserves the water resources for future generations and for the environment. This requires an Integrated Water Resources Management regime for the whole (Lower) Jordan River, based on international co-operation among Israel, Jordan and Palestine, supported with adequate water management tools (like WEAP) to ensure sustainable … Continue reading →

Desalination Outlook for MENA

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Desalination is a water treatment process that separates salts from saline water to produce potable water. The desalination process uses large amount of energy to produce pure water from salt water source. Salt water is fed into the process, and the result is an output stream of pure water and another stream of waster with high salt concentration. Desalination techniques are mainly classified into two types: Processes based on physical change in the state of the water, and Processes using a membrane that employ the concept of filtration. There are more than 15,000 industrial-scale desalination units worldwide, with combined capacity exceeding … Continue reading →

Ways to Counter Water Scarcity in Jordan

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Water scarcity is a reality in Jordan, as the country is counted among the world’s most arid countries. The situation has been exacerbated by the large-scale influx of refugees due to the Syrian crisis. The current per capita water supply in Jordan is 200m3 per year which is almost one-third of the global average. To make matters worse, it is projected that per capita water availability will decline to measly 90m3 by the year 2025. Thus, it is of paramount importance to augment water supply in addition to sustainable use of available water resources. How to Augment Water Supply in … Continue reading →

Understanding Qatar’s Ecological Footprint

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Qatar’s environmental impact remains worryingly high. The country’s per capita ecological footprint is now the second highest in the world, as another Gulf state, Kuwait, has overtaken it to become the worst offender of the 152 countries that were measured, according to the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) Living Planet Report 2014. The third country in the list is the UAE, with Saudi Arabia, the world’s largest oil producer, in 33rd position. By comparing the total footprint with the planet’s biocapacity – its capacity to generate an ongoing supply of renewable resources and to absorb waste -the report, based on 2010 … Continue reading →

Water Scarcity in Bahrain

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Bahrain is listed among the top ten countries that are likely to suffer from a water crisis in the next 25 years. The World Resources Institute (WRI) have estimated that 33 countries, half of which are in the Middle East, would suffer from a severe water crisis by 2040. According to the study that included 167 countries, the top ten countries that would face water crisis by 2040 are Bahrain, Kuwait, Palestine, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Oman. The finding shows that the Middle East is already probably the least water-secure region in the world as it … Continue reading →