Of the 17 countries in the world that suffer from water stress, 11 are located in the Middle East and North Africa. This situation prompted Arab countries to resort to desalination of sea water to fill the water deficit, in light of the increase in population, drought resulting from global warming and climate change. .
According to a UN report issued by the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA), in March 2023, 90% of the population of the Arab world suffers from water scarcity.
Amalgamated future
Weather scientists expect that average temperatures in the Middle East will rise by 5 degrees Celsius by the end of the 21st century, that is, after 77 years, which will make parts of this region unfit for human habitation, if quick measures are not taken to confront water poverty.
Without water, man will not establish a civilization, and he will not be able to cultivate the land, nor even operate factories, which will lead to waves of migration to the north, and may even ignite wars between countries fighting over scarce water resources.
And if French Prime Minister Georges Clemento predicted during World War I (1914-1918) that “every drop of oil is equivalent to a drop of blood,” then if the Arab countries did not rush to find solutions to the water crisis, then “every drop of water would equal a drop of blood” in the coming years. .
The tension between Egypt and Ethiopia over the "Nahda Dam crisis", the sharing of the Nile waters, and the threat of a military option represent a warning sign of what the situation in the Arab region may lead to due to "water stress".
The average Arab per capita share of water represents 10% of the global average, compared to an annual population increase of 2%, which is twice the average rate of population increase in the world.
These figures mean that the Arab per capita share is declining annually due to population increase, and also due to climate change and the decline in water precipitation, surface and groundwater.
For example, the countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council need to increase their water resources by 77% in 2050, to meet the requirements of their populations, according to Arab News.
However, seawater desalination plants represent the most prominent solutions resorted to by Arab countries to confront drought and the insufficiency of surface and even groundwater for the population of the region.
The solution is in the sea
The Arab countries together account for about 50% of the sea and ocean water desalination market in the world, and the share of Saudi Arabia alone is estimated at 22.2% of the global market.
Saudi Arabia’s production of sea water desalination is more than 7.9 million cubic meters per day, according to the Saudi Desalinated Water Corporation (Governmental), which produces about 75% of the Kingdom’s total production.
The UAE accounts for about 14% of global production, meaning that only two Arab countries account for more than a third of global production.
However, Kuwait is the most dependent of the Arab countries, and even dependent on desalinated water by 90%, meaning that rainwater and groundwater cover only 10% of the population's needs, and industrial and agricultural uses.
The Sultanate of Oman is not much different from Kuwait, as it relies 86% on desalination of sea water, and this percentage in Saudi Arabia is 70%.
And Qatar, which hosted the World Cup in 2022, has quadrupled its seawater desalination production over the past twenty years.
During the same period, the Gulf countries collectively spent 33 billion euros to establish 550 seawater desalination plants, which contributed to the prosperity of urbanization and watered green spaces in an area where most of its parts are dominated by a harsh desert climate.
But the matter was not limited to the Gulf countries, as Egypt is one of the countries that suffers from water poverty, and yet its historical share of the Nile River, which exceeds 55 billion cubic meters annually, is threatened after the completion of the Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, which is being built on the Blue Nile River, one of the tributaries of the Nile. .
Egypt suffers from a severe water deficit of about 42 billion cubic meters, according to a press statement by Dr. Nader Nour El-Din, an academic specialist at the Faculty of Agriculture at Cairo University.
This critical situation prompted the country to expand seawater desalination projects, as the number of existing stations is 63, with a total production capacity of 799,000 cubic meters per day, according to local media.
The country has drawn up a plan to double its seawater desalination capacity to 3.35 million cubic meters per day by 2025, and then to 8.85 million cubic meters per day by 2050.
Algeria, which is currently facing a drought, its President Abdelmadjid Tebboune ordered, last April, to develop an urgent strategic plan to circulate seawater desalination plants across its entire coastal strip, which is more than 1,600 km.
Algeria currently has 24 seawater desalination plants, producing about 2.2 million cubic meters per day, representing 18% of the drinking water consumed annually, according to a report by the New Arab website.
It is expected that 7 new plants will come into production in early 2024, which will raise the production of seawater desalination plants to 3.7 million cubic meters per day.
In the summer, Algeria intends to start the construction of 5 large plants to raise production to 5.5 million cubic meters per day.
In addition to the six Gulf states, Egypt and Algeria, Jordan intends to implement a project to desalinate the water of the Red Sea by drawing 300 million cubic meters from the Gulf of Aqaba to water treatment plants in the north, at a total cost estimated at about $3 billion, but finding sources of funding for the project faces difficulties.
While Morocco seeks to complete two large seawater desalination plants, to be added to small plants that collectively produce 147 million cubic meters per year, or the equivalent of about 400,000 cubic meters per day, while other countries are also planning this, such as Mauritania.
Financial and environmental problems
One of the main difficulties facing the expansion of desalination plants is the high cost of production, despite the fact that desalination technology has developed and reduced the production price per cubic meter to $0.34.
However, this cost is unstable and could rise, especially if energy prices, which are used to operate desalination plants, rise, which affects the cost of producing a cubic meter of water.
Non-petroleum countries such as Tunisia and Jordan find it difficult to finance seawater desalination projects, which require billions of dollars.
The expansion of seawater desalination plants poses environmental problems, especially with regard to the disposal of desalinated water waste (salt solution), whose salinity is more than twice the salinity of sea water, and it can kill nearby aquatic life.
Sea desalination plants can also kill fish when they are trapped in front of filters that protect the plants' inlet valves, and small organisms such as bacteria and plankton can be sucked in, which threaten marine life.
According to an investigation by the American “The Conversation” website, the California Coastal Commission, in May 2022, unanimously rejected the construction of a proposed $1.4 billion ocean water desalination plant in Huntington Beach, in part due to its potential impact on marine life.
These environmental problems require solutions such as the use of clean energies in the operation of desalination plants, and the discharge of sea water and waste water according to strict environmental conditions.
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