WATER, water everywhere? Experts say not if we continue to take our water supply as granted. Extreme weather conditions, whether droughts or floods, and our mismanagement continue to undermine the future water supplies. “Governments in the Middle East and North Africa need to invest now if they want to avoid severe water shortages in the future,” a World Bank report, released Friday, warns grimly. The amount of water available per person in the arid region will get halved by 2050, the report estimates. The report blames climate change and population growth for new pressures on supplies. “Governments in the region should tackle water waste, build more efficient networks and reduce water usage,” the World Bank report says. Not surprisingly the bank's report suggests agriculture is a key target area. With 85 percent of water-use devoted to agriculture, the report says countries such as Morocco will have to cut back on irrigation and switch to crops that require less water but earn more money. “We've simply got to reduce the amount of water used, especially in agriculture,” said a resource management specialist at the World Bank. Water companies need to cut water lost by evaporation. “If we plan for the future, it's a lot simpler than crisis management further down the line.” Governments must increase public education projects on water and develop new infrastructure projects, including desalination plants, the bank's report says. Tunisia and Jordan were identified by the experts as strong performers in managing water demand and making the most of available water resources. Chemical engineers are working on techniques such as membrane separation that uses a process called reverse osmosis to improve the way we purify our water. Reverse osmosis is a separation process that uses pressure to purify water, removing unwanted components, such as salt in seawater. Ironically, it is currently cheaper to use treated water for non-drinking purposes, such as washing vehicles or watering our gardens, than to introduce methods that use alternative sources. This has to change. There are two aspects to the challenge we are facing: Educating public to be more sensible and economical with their water usage and finding, implementing an effective treatment of waste water on a large scale. Water consumers in Saudi Arabia and the region need a change in attitude. God's gift needs man's management if we want to avoid impending disasters that may bring tension and unrest between nations. __
