GEO-6 Regional Asssement for West Asia
Million cubic metres 550 290 166
83 78
43 37
16
6 2
attention include damage to and death of aquatic creatures in desalination plant intakes; and the discharge of hot brine, residual chlorine, trace metals, volatile liquid hydrocarbons (VLHs) and anti-foaming and anti-scaling agents to the near-shore marine environment. There is a need to improve understanding of the impact of desalination on ecosystems and to deploy mitigation measures (Dawood 2012).
Treated wastewater reuse
Measures undertaken to cope with water scarcity in the region’s countries include the reuse of treated wastewater and agricultural drainage. Agricultural runoff in some countries often contains untreated domestic and industrial effluents, degrading the water quality in rivers with toxic trace metals, micro-organisms, pathogens, pesticides, trace nutrients and biodegradable organic loads.
Wastewater can be called the “renewable water resource of the future for agriculture expansion” (AbuZeid, K. et al. 2014). Although Syria is ranked first in wastewater treatment volumes among Arab countries, current annual treatment in this country has still not reached half the amount of wastewater produced. In many other West Asian countries, there is a good match between the produced and the treated wastewater. Nevertheless, the treated amount is too small to contribute significantly to the national water budget (CEDARE et al. 2014).
Figure 2.1.14 shows the amounts of municipal and industrial treated wastewater reused in different West Asian countries. It is clear that all the treated volumes are being reused in Syria. The UAE also reuses all its treated wastewater, which amounts to 290 million cubic metres per year, while Saudi Arabia reuses 166 million cubic metres of the 240 million produced annually. Agricultural drainage also represents a considerable resource for reuse, reaching about 7 billion cubic metres annually in Iraq and 4 billion in Syria.
Wastewater in the Mashriq, outside large cities, is discharged into watercourses and only part of it is used for irrigation purposes. Excess irrigation water inflitrates the
50
Figure 2.1.14: West Asia reused treated industrial and municipal wastewater, by country, million cubic metres
100 200 300 400 500 600
0
Reused treated industrial and municipal wastewater Source: Abuzeid 2014; CEDARE et al. 2014
lower horizons to reach the groundwater table; only in Saudi Arabia’s Al Hassa oasis is irrigaion water reused in agriculture by mixing it with groundwater.
Regional cooperation on water management
The region has developed cooperation efforts to develop regional water strategies including involvement with the Arab region in elaborating a 2030 Arab Water Security Strategy, and a GCC Unified Water Strategy. Furthermore, realizing the importance of continuous assessment of the water situation in West Asia, the region’s countries have been involved, with the rest of the Arab countries, in the development of the State of the Water Reporting initiative, with Arab State of the Water reports published in 2004 and 2012 (More...12).
Syria
United Arab Emirates Saudi Arabia
Jordan Kuwait
Qatar Oman
Bahrain Yemen
Lebanon
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