GEO-6 Regional Asssement for West Asia


time as satisfying the prerequisites for current and future food security within a viable agriculture sector. Involving communities and individual members of the public in adopting new water strategies could also increase acceptance of new water systems. Stakeholder participation is an important element in ensuring the success of water-saving strategies at the community level as well as encouraging the establishment of water-user associations. Such changes may involve legal and institutional reform, reorganising the public and private sectors, and the participation of non- governmental organizations (AFED, 2014).


Brackish groundwater can also be used directly for irrigation of salt-tolerant plants or for after desalination, as it is cheaper than desalinating seawater (Dawoud 2011). In Abu Dhabi, 30 small-scale desalination units have recently been constructed to use brackish and saline groundwater in remote areas where there are no links to the water supply network (Dawoud 2012).


Parallel actions could include the implementation of policies and legal frameworks to regulate and reduce water abstraction, and improving water-use efficiency. Also, separating the role of regulator and operator is crucial for effective and efficient management of energy sources, with implications for public safety, related, for example, to nuclear energy.


However, complicated systems of water rights, land rights and civic institutions, and legal regimes, especially for transboundry shared water resources, can sometimes undermine water management. Institutional and legal reform could improve how surface and groundwater resources (Table 1.2.3) are regulated, planned and managed (Dawoud 2011).The fact that cooperation between riparian countries is limited further impedes the development of a common vision of shared water resource management (Table 1.2.4). Existing bilateral agreements focus on water allocation, with an emphasis on infrastructure development and use; water quality is not addressed in these agreements. While there are no river basin associations in place, bilateral cooperation over surface water does take place through technical committees and local projects


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Table 1.2.3: West Asia shared surface water basins Shared basin


River


Euphrates- Tigris Shatt al Arab Basin


Euphrates River


Countries


• Iraq • Syria • Turkey


Tigris River • Iran • Iraq • Syria • Turkey


Main shared tributaries


• Sajur River Jallab


• Balikh River • Khabour River


• Feesh Khabour River


• Greater Zab River


• Lesser Zab River


• Diyala River


Shatt al Arab River


Jordan River Basin


Jordan River


• Iran • Iraq


• Israel • Jordan • Lebanon • OPT • Syria


Orontes River Basin


Nahr el Kabir Basin


Qweik River Basin


Orontes River


Nahr el Kabir


Qweik River


• Lebanon • Syria • Turkey


• Lebanon • Syria


• Syria • Turkey


• Karkheh River • Karun River


• Hasbani River • Banias River • Yarmouk River


• Afrin River • Karasu River


- -


Source: UNESCWA and BGR (United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (UN-UNESCWA) and Bundesanstalt für Geowissenschaften und Rohstoffe (BGR) 2013


(Bundesanstaltfür Geowissenschaften und Rohstoffe, 2013). Achievements vary across countries in West Asia based on their policies and priorities among the various sectors, namely water supply and sanitation coverage, increases in food production, allocation of sufficient funds to invest in infrastructure, and the provision of financial support to increase agricultural and industrial productivity (Dawoud 2011).


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