By Amir Dakkak

Fresh water is a vital, finite and vulnerable resource. In many of the countries in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA region), freshwater shortages have already become a serious threat to economic growth, social cohesion and political stability. Furthermore, today’s freshwater usage does not account for its present and future availability but rather is based on sectoral and geographical competing consumption needs. To make matters worse, this already dire situation is being amplified by the rapidly changing climate. Climate Change affects water resources through its affect on water quantity, variability, timing, form, and intensity of precipitation. The MENA region in particular seems to be highly vulnerable to the disruptive climate change effects because countries within the region belong to the most water stressed region in the world, with water availability per capita well below the worldwide average. In addition, most MENA countries belong to a critical combination of low rainfall and high spatial and temporal rainfall variability, with Lebanon being better off among the group in terms of precipitation, and Qatar being worst off in terms of both precipitation and rainfall variability. This only amplifies the effects of Climate Change on the water resources.


There are two main ways Climate Change affects water resources:

Warmer temperatures increase the rate of evaporation of water into the atmosphere, in effect increasing the atmosphere’s capacity to “hold” water. This causes earlier and shorter runoff seasons and increases dry seasons. Increased evaporation also decreases soil moisture levels, which in turn increases the frequency of droughts, and increases the likelihood of desertification. In addition, a decrease in soil moisture also lowers infiltration rates, consequently reducing underground aquifer recharge rate.

Climate change also impacts sea levels. Rising sea levels could reduce water quality and availability in coastal areas. Rising sea levels can affect the quality of groundwater through saltwater intrusion into the aquifers. In addition, a rise in sea level will affect above ground hydrology of coastal areas thus reducing freshwater run offs and the presence of above ground freshwater bodies. On the other hand, rising sea levels could also cause water tables in groundwater aquifers to rise, which could increase surface runoff, but at the expense of aquifer recharge. It is predicted that sea levels will rise by 19 to 58 cm by the end of the 21st century, which will affect 12 out of the 19 MENA countries. Such an increase in sea level could cost Egypt, one of the main countries to be affected by sea level rise, 10% of the Nile Delta population together with agricultural land and production.


These decreases in water resources will have costly socioeconomic consequences. Water is used in food production, energy production, manufacturing, navigation, land use, and recreation. Therefore it becomes increasingly difficult to balance between all human needs while water resources keep diminishing. For example, it is predicted that increased temperatures will increase crop water demand by 5-8% by 2070, which will have to be compensated by using water that was allocated to energy production, thus harming energy production capabilities. The decrease in water resources would also instigate an increase in the price of water, through monthly water bills, or one-time connection fees for new homes and businesses. Finally, Decreasing water resources will also lead governments to resorting to economically intensive projects such as desalination plants, pipelines (Red – Dead Sea conveyance project), and dams. These projects are not only economically intensive, but also environmentally unsustainable and will eventually contribute to global warming and climate change (CO2 emissions from desalination plants).

Global warming is undeniable and the increase in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions will have profound climatic, environmental, and societal impacts worldwide; especially in terms of water resources. This is of great concern for MENA countries, where there has been a recorded increase in drought frequency, and where water availability is expected to decrease by 30-50% by 2050. Therefore MENA countries must begin to cut their GHG emissions and convert to sustainable resources of energy. They must also begin to conserve water by reducing demand and consumption, improving water infrastructure to reduce leakages, and improve water management techniques. Every individual depends on a reliable, clean supply of fresh water to sustain his or her health. Water is essential in every part of life from energy and food production to ecosystem maintenance. Therefore actions must be taken not only to stop its decline, but also to improve its status, because without water, there is no life. 

By Mohamed Zaki Trache

Water scarcity, defined as the lack of adequate water resources to match the water usage requirements, is classified as one of the most pressing issues of global infrastructure and human development. With 1.2 billion people lacking access to clean drinking water, and a further 2.8 billion people experiencing at least one month of water stress out of the year, the issue of water scarcity is detrimental to economic, political and social aspects of any civilization. 

Nowhere is this more apparent than in the MENA region, where the exponential population increase, coupled with the increasing unemployment and poverty rates puts the region in a precarious position. Furthermore, due to the unique geographical climate of MENA, water resources are scarce and often shared between various countries. Therefore water provisioning has to be dealt with multilaterally between various countries, such as the supply of water from the Euphrates and Tigris rivers to Iraq, Syria and Turkey necessitating the close cooperation of all three countries. Current efforts to accommodate rising scarcity due to the growth in demand have been focused on increasing the supply of water resources. As a result engineering solutions occupy an important role in combatting the region’s water crisis. There have been a number of different technologies developed in order to battle this crisis. However such technologies are hindered due to their large energy and financial consumption, and their carbon release. This has led to various developments in industrial solutions in order to improve scarcity battling technologies.

Desalination is one of the most popular methods of water supply in more developed countries within the Middle East. However, its large cost and high-energy requirements limit its use to developed countries. This has led to the creation of “Nano enhanced reverse osmosis technologies”. This technology renders desalination more cost effective and applicable to a wider range of countries through combating membrane fouling (decreased functioning due to deposition of biofilms) and improving membrane performance by the addition of nano particles, either to the polyamide top layer or surface of the membrane. However, nano enhanced membranes have yet to reach the deployment stage and are yet to be fully implemented into desalination plants.

Another area of technological research touted as a major source of scarcity relief is wastewater sewage and recycling. Effective purification of wastewater is essential in the face of the crisis, and nanotechnology again engages a major role in ensuring thorough safeguard of recycled water. While mostly applied as process steps as part of drinking water purification, Nano filtration is nonetheless applicable to wastewater treatment, by removing specific pollutants while allowing for important minerals to pass. In short, Nano filtration is similar to reverse osmosis in principle but is focused on removal of larger ions. 



One more example of technologies developed to combat the water crisis is “Decentralized Distillation Units”. Decentralized distillation units can provide quick relief for areas that are most severely hit by water scarcity; especially in places were water distribution infrastructure is not fully developed. Using the principles of membrane distillation (using differences in vapor pressure to spread water through a membrane, rejecting other non-volatile constituents found in the water) and driven by autonomous power source, the units can be independent and stand-alone. However when combined with renewable energy, such as solar power, decentralized distillation units provide relief to water stricken regions as well as reduce the country’s carbon footprint by decreasing its reliance on conventional electricity.

 
Conclusion:

 
The global water crisis has become one of the century’s biggest threats to our world, especially arid regions like the Middle East. It is becoming a major topic for conflict between countries such as Egypt and Ethiopia, and Iraq and Turkey, Jordan, Palestine, and Israel. Furthermore, the water crisis affects nearly 1 in 9 people worldwide, and while engineering developments alone may not be sufficient in resolving the global water crisis, they can provide relief in areas suffering from water scarcity. However, even with such technological advancements, cooperation is essential between the constituent countries, both for provisioning and facilitating water transfer between countries as well as technical research into future technologies.



Photo credit: H2.O

By Amir Dakkak

In today’s world about 780 million people, 11% of the world’s population, lack any type of access to clean water. This is widespread mostly through arid and semi-arid regions of the world due to low precipitation rates and scarce availability of natural water sources. Furthermore, water pollution also creates a severe problem with an estimated 3.4 million people dying each year from water related diseases. The combination of the two dilemmas has inspired the development of various techniques and technologies that can extract clean water from places that in the past seemed impossible. Such a technique is humidity harvesting. This technique has great potential in humid regions such as the MENA region, where humidity can reach upwards of 80% humidity (harvesting can only occur if humidity is over 69%).

Humidity harvesting is a very simple concept. It relies on the natural process of condensation to be able to extract water (in the form of water vapor) from the air and create fresh drinkable water. What is particularly interesting about humidity harvesting is that unlike desalination and wastewater treatment plants it can be inexpensive and easy to construct. However, like wastewater treatment and desalination it can also be quite expensive if it is to be used to maintain large communities.


Different techniques and technologies

Its ease of construction and low cost has led people to create different ways of harvesting humidity from the air (which rely on condensation). Three inventions whose use has been increasing are Skywell, Warka Towers, and Airdrop Irrigation. All three technologies do not require large amounts of income or advanced technologies to complete, and are designed to help remote communities, with little or no income, get access to clean water.

1. Skywell: This system uses the simple process of condensation on a cold flat surface to produce clean water. A large corrugated sail with hydrophobic (does not absorb water molecules) coating is used to condense and collect humidity from the air. The water is then directed into a reservoir where it is filtered so it can be used immediately or stored for periods of drought. Despite its simplicity this system will be able to produce up to 110 liters per day, supplying 60 individuals with their needed daily supply of clean water as long as the system is functioning. This will have significant effects on community and social development within poor and water scarce countries. 

2. Warka Tower: This is an inexpensive 30 feet tall vase-shaped structure that is very easily assembled. It consists of an outer casing comprised of lightweight elastic wooden stalks, known as juncus, and a mesh net made of nylon or polypropylene hanging on the inside collecting droplets of dew that form along its surface. The droplets then run down the net and into a container at the bottom of the structure from which people extract the water for its use. However this invention, which produces 95 liters per day, is mainly used for small remote communities in the arid areas of Africa.

3. Airdrop Irrigation: This technology allows the irrigation of crops using only water extracted from the air. Utilizing a turbine intake system, air is channeled underground through a network of piping that quickly cools the air to soil temperature. This process creates an environment with 100% humidity, from which water is then harvested. The water is then stored in an underground container ready to be pumped out via sub-surface drip irrigation hosing.

Innovation has also led to the construction of technology that allows humidity harvesting to support large communities. Such a technology is known as “Aquasphere”. Aquasphere, which can produce around 100,000 liters per day, uses the Water Extractions and Purification technology (W.E.P.S) as a method of extracting water from the air. In an interview with Hisham Fawzi, the creator of Aquasphere, he stated that Aquasphere technology is fully capable to support entire cities. However, unlike the aforementioned techniques, it can be quite costly. Hisham insists that implementing this technology is “not just an investment for the future; it goes deep into the individual’s wellbeing”. “Governments cannot put a price on the wellbeing of its citizens and Aquasphere technology is a way that can reduce the number of human beings affected by diseases contracted from consumption of unclean water” Hisham adds.  

What to make of it all:

Humidity harvesting has been adapted to suit the needs of various scenarios. It can be implemented on a small scale where it is used as a source of fresh water to remote villages, and on a big scale where it can be used to provide water to entire communities. Therefore, technologies and techniques such as these have the capacity to significantly improve the availability and access to clean water in water scarce regions like MENA. However, in order for this scenario to become a reality governments and municipalities in different countries must take the initiative to invest heavily in humidity harvesting. Only then can mankind be closer to solving worldwide water scarcity. 

By Amir Dakkak

For almost a month Gaza has been enduring constant Israeli bombardment that is causing massive damages to its infrastructure and its citizens.  Despite it all, Gaza is still resilient and its resolve grows stronger by the day. However, the factor that might end up being Gaza’s downfall is its lack of usable water.  The only natural source of fresh water in Gaza is a shallow aquifer on the southern part of its coast; 90 to 95% of which isn’t safe for drinking because of neighboring seawater, sewage, and runoff from agriculture. Even though most of it isn’t fit for consumption, residents have no other choice but to resort to using it. UN hydrologists have indicated that current abstraction rates from the aquifer run at around 160 million cubic meters (mcm)/year, 105 mcm above the recommended extraction rate.  The repercussions of this over abstraction can be disastrous because a drop in the water table would cause a large volume of sea water to seep through the surface and into the aquifer, further contaminating the entire aquifer.

 Of course the situation was not always like this. Before the current crisis, around 97% of all households within the Gaza strip had access to the coastal aquifer. Gaza also showcased five sewage and wastewater treatment plants that improved the water’s health & status. Why did all of this change? what happened? Why have scientists predicted that the Gaza strip will become unlivable by the year 2016?

The ongoing Israeli assault on Gaza has had a heavy toll on the strip's already fragile water infrastructure, leaving the territory's 1.8 million residents facing long periods without access to clean running water. This has driven residents to travel long distances in order to reach a source of water that they could use. Some residents have even relied on purchasing expensive bottled water smuggled in from the underground tunnels that connect into Egypt. The constant bombardment has also had negative effects on the five sewage and wastewater treatment plants in Gaza, three of which have been damaged by the bombings. This has led to the discharge of an estimated 3.5 million cubic feet (1 Cubic feet = 0.028 cubic meters) of raw sewage into the Mediterranean Sea every day.

It must be noted that this water crisis in Gaza was present well before the most recent Israeli bombardment began.  Since the Israeli blockade on the Gaza strip enforced in 2006 Israel has controlled everything from the national air space to everything entering and exiting the Gaza Strip. Accordingly, Israel has denied the influx of raw material that would be used to improve the current outdated infrastructure causing the existing infrastructure to deteriorate over time. Additionally, Israel did and still consumes a disproportionate share of water from Gaza’s only water source, the coastal aquifer. Finally, as if to rub salt into the Palestinians wounds, it constantly rejects Palestinian proposals for the construction of private water wells and often destroys any that exist.

In 2012, the plans for a desalination plant in Gaza were suggested and were backed by Israel, all Mediterranean governments, the UN, the EU, and key development banks. It was also confirmed that the finances for this projects were to be provided by the Islamic Development Bank and the European Investment Bank. However shortly after the plans were published, conflicts reoccurred and Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip continued. This once promising project was discarded and infrastructure destroyed.


The city’s water quality has become a central factor in its water crisis threatening all life in the city. With no end in sight for both the current attacks on the city and the illegal blockade, there are little to no solutions left for Gaza. With its infrastructure constantly being destroyed and its water polluted, the only solution is peace. Without peace the water crisis will continue to worsen until it eventually The Gaza Strip becomes unlivable. The illegal blockade must be lifted to allow the people of Gaza to rebuild its infrastructure and to import fresh water from the outside world. Without the freedom to manage its own water supply, Gaza will be no more.  

By Mohammed Zaki Trache

With The Middle East suffering from sever water shortages various countries in the region have resorted to relying heavily on desalination, collectively holding 33% of global planned desalination plants. The desalination process characteristically demands large quantities of energy, rendering the costs associated with desalination greater than its alternatives, which include groundwater excavation and other methods of water recycling. However, the geographic location as well as the water poor climate of the Middle East solidifies desalination as an important method to obtain consumable water.

Desalination processes traditionally are only associated with the transformation of saltwater into water fit for human consumption or irrigation purposes. However, technological advances in desalination methods is quickly allowing for a broader range of inputs into the desalination process, allowing the processing of industrial and agricultural wastewater (brackish water), all the while resulting in a more cost effective practice. 

Furthermore, while desalination methods vary depending on the application, they may be categorized into two technologies:

1. Thermal Heating Technology

Thermal technology requires energy in the form of heat to obtain pure water from the distillation process of saline water vapor. The energy requirements for thermal heating are substantial; therefore thermal desalination technology is more popular for salt-water desalination rather than brackish water. 

Thermal technology includes three different processes:

a. Multiple Stage Flash Process (MSF)

This process, which is shown here, uses evaporating chambers, called stages, at decreasing pressures to conduct the distillation process. The initial seawater is heated under high pressure and then enters the first chamber, which is at a lower pressure level. The pressure drop causes the water to boil rapidly causing it to evaporate. This process, known as flashing, is further repeated throughout the stages due to the declining pressures across each stage. 

The vapor created from each stage is then condensed through heat exchanger tubes, which are kept at low temperatures by cold seawater water, in each stage forming freshwater. A major characteristic of the heat exchanger is that only a small percentage of the feed water is converted into vapor and condensed thus producing a small amount of freshwater. 


b. Multi-Effect Distillation

Multi-effect distillation (MED), shown here, contains a series of chambers, called effects, where evaporation and condensation occurs at reduced ambient pressures. In MED, a series of evaporator effects produce water at progressively lower pressures. Due to this decrease in pressure, water is boiled at lower temperatures and subsequently the water vapor produced in the first effect serves as the heating medium for the second and so on. 

c. Vapor Compression distillation

Vapor Compression distillation (VCD) may be operated as either a stand-alone process or as an add-on to an existing process, such as MED.  As the name implies, vapor compression provides the heat required for water evaporation. The most commonly available configuration contains a mechanical compressor, compressing the vapor and providing heat. VCDs are most commonly found in small-scale applications such as desalination plants for individual neighborhoods, hotels, and hospitals. 

2. Membrane Technology

Electrodialyis/Electrodialysis Reversal (ED/EDR)

Although ED and EDR were originally conceived as a seawater desalination process, the electrical process works better for lower salinity water (brackish water). Therefore, membrane technology has been mainly used for treating of brackish wastewater.

Electrodialysis uses an electrical potential to move salts through a membrane, leaving fresh water behind as product water, where as ED relies on the fact that most salts dissolved in water are either positively charged ions called cations or negatively charged ions called anions. Therefore ions are attracted to electrodes at an opposite electric charge. This allows for the construction of selective membranes that only allow passage for either anions or cations. 

Inside the plants these membranes are placed in alternate order: Anion-permeable membrane followed by a cation-permeable membrane. As saline solution flows through the system, salt is reduced in one channel, while concentrated solutions are gathered at the electrodes in the spaces between the alternating membranes, which are called cells. One ED unit consists of several hundred cells bound together with electrodes, and is referred to as a stack. Once saline water passes through both membranes, fresh water is produced.

Reverse Osmosis (RO).

Osmosis is a naturally occurring phenomenon in which water containing a low salt concentration passes into a more concentrated solution through a semi-permeable membrane. With reverse osmosis, pressure is applied to the solution with the higher salt concentration solution allowing a reversal in the water flow through the membrane causing the salt to be blocked by the membrane, thus creating fresh water.

The RO desalination process may be subdivided into 4 different stages; the pretreatment stage, high-pressure pump stage, membrane system stage, and the post treatment stage.

The pre-treatment stage includes removing any solid material that may be contained in the water, which could cause harm to the semi-permeable membranes used later in the process. It also constitutes of water pretreatment, to ensure the membranes are free from salt precipitation or microbial growth. This pre-treatment entails methods such as using chemical feed followed by coagulation/flocculation/sedimentation, and sand filtration. Different considerations may affect the type of pre-treatment chosen, which include the quality of the feed water, space considerations, and RO membrane requirements. 

The high-pressure pump stage provides the pressure needed to enable the untreated water to pass through the membrane. The pressures vary depending on the salt content of the feed water, ranging from about 150 pounds per square inch (psi) for slightly brackish water to 800 - 1,000 psi for seawater. This allows for a more effective and efficient treatment of saline water.

In the membrane system stage, RO membranes are usually either spiral wound and Hollow fiber. Spiral wound membranes, the most popular membranes, constitute of materials such as of cellulose acetate or of other composite polymers. In the spiral wound design, the membrane is wrapped around a central water collection tube. Under pressure, the feed water then flows within the spiral membrane, allowing for desalinated water to be collected within the central collecting tube (This process is shown here).


After the feed water passes through the membrane and is processed, the remaining water increases in salt content. in the post treatment stage It is necessary that a portion of the feed water is discharged without passing through the membrane, as without this, the pressurized feed water would continue to increase in salinity content, resulting in salt super saturation. The percentage of feed water which is discharged without passing through the membrane depends on the original salinity of the feed water, with an average figure ranging from 20 percent for brackish water to about 50 percent for seawater. 


Finally once these 4 processes have been completed, fresh water is produced and can be used for municipal and agricultural purposes.

Conclusion

It is evident that with a plethora of treatment processes, creating new freshwater sources should not be difficult. Furthermore, in an attempt to make these processes less energy intensive and environmentally friendly, countries across the Middle East have been attempting to incorporate renewable energy use with desalination processes to allow for a more efficient and environmentally friendly way of producing fresh water. However in order for this to be achieved heavy investment in the technology and knowledge required is key.  Only then can one look ahead for a water rich Middle East.

By Amir Dakkak

With water shortages plaguing the world, water scarcity has become one of the largest threats facing society today, making it one of the UN’s main millennium development goals. Therefore governments have begun developing new projects and technologies to mitigate its effects on the world. Such projects and technologies include rain harvesting, water location transfers, desalination, and wastewater treatment. Unlike the rest, wastewater treatment presents a sustainable short-term and long-term solution to water scarcity. Wastewater is water used by residences and commercial and industrial establishments that has become too polluted for use. The combination between these different types of wastewater causes the resulting wastewater mix to contain both suspended and dissolved organic and inorganic substances such as carbohydrates, fats, soaps, synthetic detergents, as well as various natural and synthetic organic chemicals. Therefore, the treatment process must be divided into different treatment stages to ensure good water and sanitation quality.

The preliminary stage of the treatment process uses large filtering screens that remove large solid inorganic material such as paper, plastic, and metal. This is followed by the removal of the grit and silt which are abrasive to plant equipment. In the primary stage, wastewater is passed through a primary sedimentation tank where solid particles of organic material are removed by gravity settling at the bottom of the tank. The resultant primary sludge is then raked to the center of the tank where it is concentrated and pumped away for further treatment. The wastewater then undergoes a biological process known as activated sludge process, which uses natural occurring micro-organisms to break down dissolved and suspended organic solids. The settled wastewater then enters aeration tanks where air is blown into the water to provide oxygen promoting the growth of microorganisms. These microorganisms then consume the organic pollutants and nutrients in the wastewater. From the aeration tanks the mixture of wastewater and microorganisms is moved to a secondary sedimentation tank where the biomass settles to the bottom of the tank and is concentrated as sludge. The clarified wastewater is then passed into a tank where the third stage of treatment, known as the Tertiary treatment stage, takes place. In this stage Chlorine is used to remove any biological pathogens present in the clarified wastewater that could be a risk to human health. In some instances this treatment is repeated more than once if the treated wastewater is reused for purposes such as irrigation of food crops or where close human contact may result.

After all these treatment processes are complete, fresh water is produced. However, the water treatment process does not only produce clean reusable water, but also has the potential to produce various other benefits. It has the potential to reduce a country’s waste production, to produce energy through methane harvesting, and the potential to produce natural fertilizer from the waste collected through the process. Below is a more detailed explanation of these benefits:

Waste Reduction:

Through the treatment of wastewater, the amount of waste that is usually released into the environment is reduced thus improving environment’s health. By doing so, the government in turn reduces the health risks associated with environmental pollution, and reduces the water loss induced through water pollution. Wastewater treatment also reduces the amount of money spent by a country on environmental rehabilitation projects required to battle pollution.

Energy Production:

The Sludge collected during the treatment process is itself treated because it contains a large amount of biodegradable material. It is treated with anaerobic bacteria in special fully enclosed digesters heated to 35 degrees Celsius, an area where these anaerobic microorganisms thrive without any oxygen. The gas produced during this anaerobic process contains a large amount of methane, which is harvested and then burned to generate electricity. This energy can be used to power the wastewater treatment plants making them self-sustainable, and if there happens to be an excess of energy produced, it could be transported into a country’s national grid. This helps lower the reliance on non-renewable energy sources such as fossil fuels, reducing a country’s carbon footprint and a country’s expenditure on energy production. An example of this system being used within the Middle East can be found in al-Samra wastewater treatment plants in Jordan. According to government officials the plant produces 40% of the energy it requires through burning the methane produced by the treatment process.  

Fertilizer Production:

Any biodegradable material remaining is dried in “drying lagoons” and is then turned into natural fertilizer. The resulting natural fertilizer is then used in the agricultural sector, increasing crop yields. This decreases the use of chemical fertilizers that pollute the surrounding marine and surface ecosystems.



In summary, the combination of these benefits along with water production makes wastewater treatment a sustainable short and long-term solution to the world’s water crisis, which will only increase as the world population increases. It is estimated that the world’s population is set to increase to 9 billion people, and this would cause an increase in the amount of water that can be treated. This will cause the production of large amounts of fresh usable water, thus helping battle water scarcity. 

By Amir Dakkak

The Project:

The Dead Sea has been shrinking for the last 40 years by as much as 1m (3.3ft) a year mostly due to water diversion of the Jordan River, mainly by Israel and to a lesser extent Jordan. This decline in the Dead Sea levels causes a variety of environmental, social, and economic harm to the surrounding countries by affecting the tourism industry, and destroying one of the world’s most distinct habitats. The surrounding countries have come to realize the severity of its destruction and have acted accordingly to mitigate its depletion. Israel, Jordan, and the Palestinian Authority have signed a water pact that authorizes the construction of pipeline that will carry brine water from a desalination plant in the Red Sea to the Dead Sea in an effort to replenish it. This scheme, which is expected to cost $250m-$400m (£152m-£244m), will pipe 200 million cubic meters (mcm) of water from the Jordanian city of Aqaba across the gulf from the Israeli resort town of Eilat off the Red Sea through a desalination plant sending brine to the southern-most edge of the Dead Sea. Half will be desalinated at a newly constructed plant, projected to yield 80 to 100 mcm of water annually in Aqaba, at the northern tip of the Red Sea, and the rest will be piped to the Dead Sea to help replenish its waters. Moreover, Israel is to receive around 30-50 mcm of this water, for the benefit of the port city of Eilat and communities in the arid Arava region. Finally, a water transfer deal will also see Israel sell water from the Sea of Galilee to Jordan and desalinated water to the Palestinian territories.

In theory it sounds like a sound plan that will not only help replenish the Dead Sea and restore the fragile ecosystem to its old healthy status, but also provide water to neighboring countries. However, major environmental concerns have been raised about this project, with environmentalists indicating that it would provide only about a 10th of the volume of water required to stabilize the Dead Sea, while also threatening its unique characteristics. This project will cause the formation of algal blooms in the Dead Sea due to the different densities and minerals in the waters of the two seas. This project will also have detrimental effects on the Red Sea, with large water withdrawals severely affecting the coral reefs in Aqaba along with the water table and nutrient levels of the sea. These detrimental effects would have knock on effects on the tourism industry that Jordan heavily relies on at Al Aqaba (e.g. hiking, scuba diving), and the Dead Sea.

Furthermore, Jordan stands to lose most if this project is to be completed, because the pipeline connecting both seas will be constructed completely in Jordanian territory. A credible rupture in the high saline pipeline (running along known active earthquake fault) would cause irreparable damage for a main source of Jordan’s fresh groundwater in Wadi Araba, and increase soil salinity causing a decrease in agricultural production.

Alternative options:

Due to the high environmental risk that would be taken in order to implement such a project, it would be wise to consider alternative options to mitigate the destruction of the Dead Sea. The first alternative would be to release water from the Sea of Galilee to lower the Jordan River and eventually into the Dead Sea. As it stands today, only 50 mcm of water from the Jordan River reaches the Dead Sea as opposed to 1.3 billion cubic meters (bcm) in 1950. Rehabilitating the Jordan River therefore would be a more environmentally safe and a more natural option.

A second option would be to invest more into wastewater treatment. Wastewater treatment represents a valuable and a sustainable water resource that will never run out. Wastewater is constantly available and can add considerable amounts of water to the depleted national water supply. In 2011 wastewater treatment contributed about 115.432 mcm of water per year in Jordan, with the number projected to increase to 262 mcm in the year 2020. In addition wastewater treatment has 3 other benefits that can be exploited:

1.     Produces methane that can be harvested and used to produce energy.

2.     Reduces the amount of waste released into the environment.

3.     Production of natural fertilizer for agriculture.

Therefore, wastewater treatment would not only supply water, but also produce energy and reduce waste production, which are other major problems Jordan is currently facing. Such options seem to offer a more sustainable and a more environmentally friendly option to the Red –Dead Sea conveyance project, which could potentially have catastrophic environmental effects. However, such projects need large investments and commitment from all countries affected.

Conclusion:

Of course, such alternative solutions cannot yet be realized due to the heavy political “baggage” that comes with them. In order to allow the release of water from the Sea of Galilee, which is mainly controlled by Israel, neighboring countries must come to a treaty that allows them to do so. The situation is further complicated with the political tension and strife that is currently plaguing the region, and if matters stay the same, we must brace ourselves for a future without the Dead Sea.



Photo credit: The guardian

By Amir Dakkak

With only 1.4% of the world’s freshwater resources serving 6.3% of the global population, it is no secret that the MENA region is one of the most water scarce regions in the world. The biggest sufferer of the MENA region is most definitely the GCC region. Increasing water use efficiency, and increasing water supply (mainly through desalination, and to some extent wastewater treatment) have been used to try and solve this dilemma. Although processes such as desalination and wastewater treatment have their positive effects in terms of increasing a country’s water supply, they also have negative impacts on the environment through their intensive carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, and aquatic habitat destruction. This has given rise to different methods aimed at reducing such detrimental effects. In fact, a very interesting article by Dr. Nasser al Saidi (founder and president of Nasser Saidi & Associates) about Solving the GCC’s water crisis (http://bit.ly/LA5q1P) has brought focus to a particular way forward: renewables-based desalination. In his article, Dr. Nasser indicates that “green desalination” along with more rational pricing of water utilization should become a clear policy priority for addressing water scarcity in the GCC region. He also states that the GCC should aim to create an ecosystem that is resource efficient, does not contribute to climate change, while addressing not only the region’s severe water scarcity but also the related complications associated with polluting energy technologies. To further expand on Dr. Saidi’s thoughts on this subject, Arab Water source conducted a more detailed interview with the man himself.

1. Amir Dakkak (AD): Since using desalination plants powered by renewable energy offers a viable solution to the GCC's water crisis, why has it taken such a long time for the GCC to construct such projects especially when all the resources seem to be available? 

Dr. Nasser Saidi (NS): Using renewable energy such as solar for desalination is still a young and evolving technology, although it is likely to spread rapidly in the GCC, which has some 40% of global desalination capacity. Although costs have substantially declined to make use financially viable, governments and public utilities are not familiar with the application of RE technologies to desalination. Two, there is a lack of established policy frameworks and tools to encourage the use of renewables. For example there are no feed-in tariff policies in place. Three, GCC governments actively promote the use of fossil fuels through large subsidies for the use of oil and gas in power production, which is directly linked to desalination. Without radical reform of strategies and policies, renewables and by extension renewables-based desalination will continue to be a sadly missed opportunity to protect our environment and gradually remove the expensive burden of subsidies, which represent some 4.5% of GDP and eat up more than 25% of government revenues in the MENA oil exporting countries. Removing subsidies will not be a trivial matter since it will be opposed by a strong lobby which has long benefited from subsidies. A good start is to move away from the existing systems of untargeted subsidies which largely benefit the rich and not the intended target of the poor.

2. AD: Does culture play a big part in the acceptance of renewable desalination?

NS: There is no cultural issue related to accepting renewables-based desalination. There may be a lack of information and awareness of the technological possibilities. Diffusion of new technologies takes times this happens at the margin and in new investments.  If anything, there is a global lack of awareness of the benefits of adopting renewable technologies in general, and in their applicability to desalination.  But the power of supply and demand will impose itself: growing populations facing diminishing water supplies will create the economic and financial incentives to adopt renewable technologies for improved water resource management efficiency.  The problems are more of political-economy and of vested interests that actively work against the introduction of new technologies that threaten their economic interests. This is true both in developed as well as emerging economies.

3. AD: What kind of impacts would such projects have on a country's economy given their heavy financial costs?

NS: This is a false issue.  The GCC and other countries will have to invest to produce power, provide water & transport and other utilities for their young and rapidly growing populations. Such infrastructure investments can either rely on traditional, fossil fuel, high carbon generating technologies or adopt renewable technology solutions which would help decarbonise their economies. Increasingly renewable technologies are competitive. More R&D, increased diffusion and utilization of renewable technologies will lead to more innovation and discoveries that will lower cost curves of activities using renewable technologies. Eventually they will become dominant in much the same way that fossil fuel technologies drove out and replaced human and animal power based technologies. Importantly for the GCC and other countries that have the comparative advantage, given their location, to harness solar, wind and other power, the cost of adoption of renewable technologies will be lower. A household investing in solar panels or a solar power plant investment in the GCC has an absolute advantage over a household or public utility in, say, Germany that would undertake similar investments. The problem is that the incentives are highly skewed in the opposite direction in the GCC as a result of access to cheap, subsidized fossil fuel based technologies. Why would I invest in solar panels if I have access to cheap, fossil fuel based power?

4. AD: Desalination plants powered by renewable energy seem to provide a future solution to the water crisis. Is there a more immediate solution that would be as effective?

NS: The answer is yes. The most immediate solution is through infrastructure investment in “intelligent” water management and to provide incentives to encourage households, business, the public sector and the general public to use less water. The incentives should be through the efficient pricing of water resources and their utilization, as well as non-price mechanisms such as the imposition of quotas or fines. The point is that water is a scarce resource and should be priced accordingly. Many countries of the GCC and the Middle East do not even monitor or meter water usage. But the MENA region is one of the most water scarce regions of the world. Although home to 6.3% of the world’s population (and growing), the region has access to only 1.4 % of the world’s renewable fresh water (and declining). To make matters worse, the region currently exploits over 75% of its available renewable water resources due to its burgeoning population, increased urbanization, mispricing of water and rapid economic growth. Saudi Arabia in an ill-fated drive to increase food production has –over a 15 year period- largely depleted its water aquifer that had taken millions of years to accumulate! It will be forced to stop its wheat production by 2016. Yemen is already a hydrological basket case and Gaza is an ecological disaster.

Better ecosystem and water management systems, improved water use efficiency and pricing, and investment in water infrastructure are all part of the answer. Water is a shared resource and must be managed on a local, basin and national basis.

5. AD: Is it possible to use renewable energy on wastewater treatment plants in the same way as they are used in desalination plants? Would using renewable wastewater treatment provide a more sustainable option to renewable desalination?

NS: Yes, of course. Solar panels have already been installed to provide power for wastewater treatment plants in the US, Germany and China. It could easily have wide applicability in the GCC. Furthermore, energy derived from wastewater treatment can even be used as a renewable energy resource itself. Such recovery processes can produce electrical energy from the utilization of methane rich digester gas, from thermal conversion of biomass, from bio-solid products used by other entities and more. The cheap availability of fossil fuel-based energy & technologies has meant that renewable energy R&D and RE technologies and applications has been limited. This is now changing as RE is becoming cost and financially competitive and there is growing political conviction of the need to address climate change and decarbonise our economies and environment. I believe the coming decade will witness a rapid advancement in RE R&D and wide application and use.



Note: The Arab Water Source team would like to express its thanks and gratitude to Dr. Nasser Saidi for sharing his time and insights on water scarcity in the GCC with us.