ONE must hope Saudi Arabia's Deputy Defense Minister Prince Khalid Bin Sultan's address to the third session of the Arab Water Council meeting held in Cairo on Wednesday gets the attention it deserves and helps put the issue of water security at the forefront of Arab policy agenda. Prince Khalid, who is also honorary president of Arab Water Council, called on Arab countries to evolve an effective strategy to tackle water crisis in the region. He drew attention to the factors and challenges adversely affecting the management of water resources in our region. The prince lamented the absence of water-sharing agreements between some countries leading to unnecessary friction and even conflicts. Scarcity of safe drinking water and depleting water resources is a global problem. But special circumstances make the challenge of managing and preserving the water resources even more daunting to Arab countries. Some 6.3 percent of the world's population live in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region which has only 1.4 percent of the world's renewable fresh water. As for the Gulf, it is devoid of rivers and lakes, and, with the exception of some areas in southwestern Saudi Arabia and southern Oman, has rainfall only in the range of 70mm a year to 130mm a year. Most of the natural water supply comes from groundwater and shallow or deep aquifers, and is being extracted at a rate far outpacing its natural replenishment. As local populations continue to increase rapidly and economic development soars, the specter of an impending water crisis is slowly growing in the Gulf region. Gulf states invest heavily in hundreds of desalinization plants and pour even more capital into subsidizing the agricultural sector and household desalinization programs. But the complete subsidization of high-priced water desalinization programs for individual households has one undesirable result: Per capita water consumption levels in the Gulf is the highest in the world. For example, an average UAE resident consumes 550 liters of water a day as compared to the world average of 250 liters/day. In Kuwait, per capita water use has now doubled that of the United States. The Gulf region as a whole consumes over 60 percent of the world's desalinated water. Such high dependence on desalinization, apart from its huge costs (about a dollar per 35 cubic feet or one cubic meter) carries great risks. The failure of one or more water desalinization plants can pose a threat to the security of GCC states. What Gulf countries need is a broad strategy for addressing water security. This should include steps for reducing demand for desalinated water. One way of doing this, according to experts, is to invest in water recycling for irrigation and municipal use. All this should be accompanied by effective policies to regulate patterns of consumption and combat water wastage. Of course, there can't be a “one size fits all” solution. Each country needs to develop a strategic plan for water management suited for its particular needs and circumstances. No less important is cooperation among the states as 60 percent of the water sources in the Arab region are shared across borders. Any effective strategy for water management and security should take into account the fact that the Arab region is more vulnerable to the negative impact of global warming than other parts of the world.
