The Middle East, a region that is home to tens of millions of people, is rich with oil reserves, allowing some of those inhabitants to enjoy fantastic wealth. It is also a region that is mostly desert, and while water scarcity has always been an issue, the situation has deteriorated considerably in recent decades. The combination of declining water resources and an expanding population is a recipe for a serious humanitarian crisis if current trends continue for much longer.
Dangerous Current Climate Trends
About 80 percent of the Middle East is desert or desert-like terrain. Water is scarce at the best of times, and current conditions are bad and getting worse. Last summer saw average temperatures across the region rise by almost 7 degrees Celsius. According to a recent study, the average temperature across the Middle East and North Africa is projected to rise over 2 degrees Celsius more from 2040 to 2059. Such an increase would have drastic effects upon both the land and the people of the region.
The extreme heat is not the only problem facing Middle Eastern nations. The scarcity of water makes the heat more oppressive and even deadly. There are various reasons for the water shortage, not least of which is the misuse and abuse of existing water sources. Iran, for example, has used dams to divert water flow to help with crop irrigation. The result has caused lakes to shrink significantly. Lake water increases in salinity when a lake shrinks, so the water becomes less useful for irrigation or other uses, exacerbating the shortage. Crops are being damaged by the saltier water, causing food shortages.
Further, the construction of more dams along the Euphrates River has prevented the regular flooding that sustained the southern wetlands. These wetlands are disappearing—and with them, an important source of water.
Droughts are happening with more frequency in the Middle East. The higher temperatures evaporate the water faster, and lakes and rivers are unable to replenish their water supplies. This leads to more increases in salinity. Less water flowing also leads to more pollutants accumulating in the water, making it more dangerous for consumption. Water sewage systems in nations like Iraq and Syria have been severely damaged by years of conflict. Waste management is haphazard at best and causes even more water pollution. As a result, more and more water has become unusable.
Outside factors have also caused water problems throughout the Middle East. The severe sanctions imposed against Iraq in the 1990s by the United Nations took a serious toll on waste management and sanitation. As mentioned, Iraqi infrastructure was degraded by both the 1991 Gulf War and the later US invasion and the insurgency. Syria remains in a state of civil war, and the nation’s infrastructure is in ruins. Yemen has been dealing with an insurgency that has disrupted the entire nation. Continuing conflicts not only cause these problems but prevent rebuilding efforts.
Hope for the Future?
The water situation is serious in the Middle East, but the outlook is not completely bleak. There is still time to make significant changes that will alleviate the water crisis, but that time is slowly running out. International cooperation, both among nations in the region and those around the rest of the world, will be critical in determining whether proper solutions can be implemented.
Reducing the water used for agricultural purposes is a necessary step for many Middle Eastern countries. Agriculture consumes far too much water, and the dams that divert that water are causing water loss in lakes and rivers. A reduction in agricultural production could cause food shortages. More food may need to be imported, but eventually, it would help the water in the region to become more sustainable.
Another area that needs to be addressed is the overuse of desalination plants. Over 70 percent of the world’s desalination plants are in the Middle East, with most of them located in the Gulf states. Desalination uses large amounts of energy and raises the cost of water. It also causes environmental problems through pollution and the dumping of the extracted salt back into the seas and oceans, increasing the salinity of those bodies of water.
Middle Eastern nations can also implement sequential water usage measures. Water can be recycled for different uses, depending upon the need for water purity. Using water first in households, then sending it to industrial plants, and finally for use in agriculture, can allow the same water to serve multiple purposes. This, in turn, stretches the scarce resource and better allows for replenishment.
There are solutions to the increasing water crisis in the Middle East. It will require a serious and concerted effort by the region’s nations to preserve the precious water resources and stop damage. Some nations, such as Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, are already working on solutions to the water problem. Others, such as Syria and Yemen, are experiencing internal conflict and cannot implement the necessary measures to protect their water resources. International cooperation designed to end these conflicts and begin the job of rebuilding infrastructure and protecting water sources needs to happen as soon as possible to maximize the conservation efforts and prevent further degradation.