Posted June 1996

Water Resources Issues in the Arab States Region

Introduction

The seriousness of the water resources issues in the Arab states region is well known:

"The tightest situation faces the countries of the Middle East and North Africa. Out of twenty countries in the region, eleven are already using more than half their water resources. Libya, and all the Arabian peninsula save Oman, are using more than 100 percent. They are relying on expensive desalinization of sea-water, or drawing on underground reserves of fossil water that cannot be replenished. And populations in the region are projected to double, treble or in some cases more than quadruple before stabilizing" (Harrison, 1992).

• Lebanon would be one of the 15 countries (worldwide) suffering from water stress.
• Egypt, Morocco and Syria would be among the 9 countries suffering from water scarcity.
• Algeria, Bahrain, Djibouti, Jordan, Kuwait, Libya, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Tunisia, the United Arab Emirates and Yemen would be among the 22 countries meeting the water barrier before 2025.

In Qatar, water scarcity is identified as the main problem - in the absence of permanent surface water, agriculture is almost entirely dependent on irrigation from pumped groundwater. It is estimated that Qatar aquifers will be depleted in 20 to 30 years at recent rates of groundwater withdrawal. Further, with increasing urban and rural development, groundwater pollution (viz. nitrates) is a clear probability (UNEP, 1987). By and large, similar considerations apply to all countries in the region.

Water scarcity is not the only problem. Pollution - with its implications for human health - usually is part of the water resources issue, and can indeed be the main problem. Syria is a case in point: the insufficiency of sanitary sewage disposal systems and increasing dumping of industrial wastes have damaged the Euphrates, Oronte and Barrada river basins. In addition, overpumping of aquifers for irrigation has brought about saltwater intrusions in the coastal plains.

Let us consider the respective roles of agriculture, industry and domestic uses of water, as reported in the Table below.

The region is characterized by:

• a high predominance of agriculture as a water user, due to the absolute need to irrigate most of agricultural lands - all but four countries are above the world average and five are above 90 percent
• a very low share of industrial uses: all but two countries are below half of the world average; and
• a more diversified situation regarding domestic uses, which in some cases are at very low levels.

Egypt: a short country profile

Water quality problems arise easily given this "saturation". Salinization and waterlogging affect the productivity of crop land. Aquifers are threatened with salinization and pollution. Irrigation canals and drains increasingly suffer from weeds and the accumulation of pesticides. Urban areas and archaeological sites are affected by rises in water tables due to poor drainage. Industrial wastewater and urban sewage are discharged into drains with little or no treatment because of the shortage of wastewater treatment capacity (and of operation and maintenance problems in existing plants). Effluents thus endanger the health and welfare of hundreds of thousands of people. WHO statistics show about 90,000 annual recorded deaths linked to water-borne diseases.

Egypt also suffers from air pollution problems in the main urban areas, where over half of the population resides. Concentrations of carbon monoxide, lead and sulphur dioxide in these areas and other mixed residential-industrial areas are well above acceptable levels. Due to widespread energy inefficiency, carbon dioxide emissions are unnecessarily high. The concentration of airborne dust in Cairo exceeds international standards by a factor of 10. In industrial areas it reduces solar radiation, damaging local vegetation. By damaging limestone monuments, air pollution also affects the country's rich cultural heritage.

The economic consequences of these problems are great, especially for the primary sector. Over one million hectares of irrigated land suffer from salinization, meaning huge losses in forgone output. Fisheries output is reduced in some areas and has generally decreased in value because of excessive contents of toxic substances. Urban drinking water treatment is becoming increasingly costly. And the tourism potential is affected as the cultural and natural heritage deteriorates.

One should also mention a number of problems which threaten biological diversity. Oil pollution damages coastal resources (coral reefs, mangroves, fisheries, birds, beaches etc.) both along the Red Sea and the Mediterranean. Tourism also has been seen (e.g. on the Red Sea or in the Aswan area) to cause habitat degradation if not properly managed.

The role of population growth in some of these processes is unquestionable. Land degradation, for instance, has much to do with accelerated agricultural intensification and "the pressure of an increasing population combined with the scarcity of cultivable land, leading farmers to ask more of the land than it can yield" (Kishk, 1986). And the pressure increases all the more rapidly as the spatial growth of human settlements, especially cities, takes a direct toll on the surrounding land resources: based on FAO data it has been estimated for instance that "between 1973 and 1985 Egypt lost 13 percent of her farmland to urban sprawl" (Harrison, 1992). It is commonly said that the land developed thanks to the Aswan Dam merely compensates for that lost to urbanization. In effect, Egypt's arable and permanent crop land in 1993 (2.8 million hectares) was the same as in 1974-76 and less than that in 1969-71 (FAO, 1995).

Of course, impact on the environment varies from one category of population to the other, depending on lifestyles. Overall, however, the mere increase in concentration of human numbers in urban areas overwhelms existing infrastructures and absorbs more and more investment resources.

Egypt exemplifies, on a large scale, many of the population-environment problems of the region, especially those arising from population pressure on natural resources. It might seem that the countries with an oil-based economy are much better off; but in reality, the populations of those countries - relatively small but concentrated in the vicinity of industrial sites - suffer disproportionately from the impact of industrial activities on a fragile natural environment. All have in common the severe problem of water resources.

References

Engelman, E. and P. LeRoy (1993): "Sustaining water. Population and the future of renewable water supplies". Washington, Population Action International.

Falkenmark, M. (1990): "Rapid population growth and water scarcity: the predicament of tomorrow's Africa", in: "Resources, environment and population". (K. Davis and M.S. Bernstam, eds.), pp. 81-94. Supplement to "Population and Development Review", vol. 16.

FAO (1995): "Country tables. Basic data on the agricultural sector". Rome. Harrison, P. (1992): "The third revolution. Environment, population and a sustainable world". London, I.B. Tauris.

UNEP (1987): "State of the environment: national reports - 1. Qatar". Nairobi.