Water in Middle East

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 One in six people in the world has no access to safe water and there are only 2.5 % freshwater in Earth so the problem concerns limited availability of water. The Middle-East is a part of the world geographically composed of deserts and arid regions, it is the world’s driest region.

On average in the Middle-East, water availability is less than 1,200 cubic meters. The worldwide average is around 7,000 cubic meters.

This subject is important because the resolution of the water crisis is one of the big challenges with which the humanity is confronted and the objectives of this report are to provide a better understanding of the situation and to provide adequate answers to challenges.

The key points of the topic are for example the geopolitics of water, demographic challenges, sustainable development, climate change, the agriculture and irrigation.

The report examines this subjects from the regional and national perspectives.

First we will analyse the origins and consequences of water scarcity in Middle-East, then we will see the strategies and feasible solutions to manage the water crisis, finally, we will examine the sustainable development and the impact of climate change.

1. Origins and consequences of water stress.

1. Situation and reasons of water stress in Middle-East

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 We can see on this map of World Resources Institute that Middle-East is touched by water stress with a ratio of “withdrawals to supply water” often extremely high. Fourteen of the thirty-three likely most water stressed countries in 2040 are in the Middle East, nine considered extremely highly stressed (Bahrain, Palestine, Kuwait, Israel, United Arab Emirates, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon).

The reasons for this situation are numerous.

 Desertification is an environmental problem with effects in countries (Syria, Jordan, Iraq, and Iran). Furthermore, the rainy lack and aridity handicap the region. Egypt is the driest country in the world in terms of average rainfall for example.

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 The unsustainable agriculture practices and the overgrazing contribute for arid environment. The actual agriculture consumes more water than modern agriculture, despite a very lower yield. The agriculture consumes until 90 % of the fresh water, against a world average of 70 % (World Bank, 2010). The methods of irrigation are rudimentary and wasters (45 % of yield approximately).

 Another reason of water stress is « A chronic bad management of groundwater aquifers » according to Andrew Maddocks, Robert-Samuel Young and Paul Reig, three heads of the water program (World Resources Institute) in 2015. In Yemen, renewable groundwaters are pumped beyond the renewal rate, fossil tablecloths situated in bigger depth run out quickly, therefore, groundwaters lower 2 meters a year. The saltwater intrusion in aquifers close to the seas is a big risk.

 The Middle-East is experiencing strong population growth (except for Israel). For example, the population growth rate in Oman 8.45 according to the list by the United Nations (UN 2010–2015). The population and demographic control are important because too many people lead at too many mouths to feed. Indeed, Malthusianism (Thomas Malthus) is a policy advocating demographic restriction.

 Industrial pollution is a problem. For example: “Pollution in the Tigris river caused by the discharge of drainage water from agricultural areas and sewage discharge near Baghdad is a major constraint to freshwater availability in Iraq,” says a Brookings Institute report (Julia Devlin, 2014).

1. The geopolitics of water: Distribution and conflicts

 Water conflicts are the consequences of a lack of water or a bad distribution of water. Boutros Ghali, former United Nations Secretary General said in 1985: “the next war in the Middle-East will be fought over water, not politics.”

The dams were built to bring water for the needs of a country. This means a lack of water or less water available for the countries downstream. The risks are conflicts. A better water cooperation could be a key to decrease the risk of conflict.

The problems of the water are around three big river ponds.

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Source: book: Living in the Environment: Principles, Connections, and Solutions

Par G. Tyler Miller,Scott Spoolman

Chap 12 p 313

 In 1956, president Nasser decided to build of the dam of Aswan for regulate the nil river however Sudan and Ethiopia intended to realize arrangements to get more water of the Nile. The “Great Renaissance” dam has been signed (Khartoum, 2015). Egypt and Sudan have given green light to the construction by Ethiopia of a dam on the Nile.

 At the beginning of the 1960s, Turkey began to build dams to get the water of Tigris and Euphrates. Syria and Iraq protested against Turkey. In 1989 Turkey begins the “GAP project” (Güeydogu Anadolu Projesi) which planned the build of 22 dams on Tigris and Euphrates rivers. According to Lassere and Descroix (2011), “the project totally realized GAP would end in a reduction of 70 % of the natural flow of the Euphrates on the Syro-Turkish border”. 

On this map, we can see the GAP Project region:

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Source:: https://www.researchgate.net/figure/297661431_fig1_Fig-1-The-GAP-Project-region-planned-and-existing-dams-Eberlein-et-al-2010293

 The water is a fundamental element of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. In 1919, Chaim Weizmann (the president of the world Zionist Organization) declared: " all the economic future of Palestine depends on its water supply ". The Six Day War (1967) fires in a context of hydric tensions because countries (Syria, Jordan, Lebanon) began works of misappropriation of the Jordan. This war led to an Israeli occupation of the main part of the Jordan Rift Valley, the West Banks (groundwaters), and to finish, the trays of Golan. Today, the access to the water is strongly regulated by Israel.

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