Water esources sponsored research and demonstration projects. These new techniques, usually Strategic concerns speed employed in plastic hothouses, are fast transforming the landscape of the J ordan valley. search for new answers Causing some controversy among Mus­ lims is growing interest in the use of treat­ MO RE money has been spent on de­ provides a prime example of how policies ed sewage e~fluent both for irrigation and salination plants in the Middle East than are shifting, having halved the desalina­ for recharging aquifers. To date, irriga­ in any other part of the world, a reflec­ tion capacity of the proposed Zuwetina tion with treated sewage has largely been tion of the region's dire shortage of water. power and water scheme earlier this year. restricted in the Middle East to grass Iraq, with the Tigris and Euphrates rivers The surprise move is probably linked with verges along roads in some major cities. flowing through its territory, is one of the the government's decision to embark on a However, O man is now boosting its few Arab countries which have more 1,900-k ilometre pipeline scheme to bring aquifer reserves by recharging with water than they need. Egypt, by con­ groundwater from the Sahara to coastal sewage effluent from surface reservoirs. trast, relies almost wholly on Lake areas . There is no danger of polluting existing Nasser, the artificial reservoir created by Elsewhere in the Middle East, more groundwater, scientists say, because the the Aswan High Dam, and Syria is attention is being devoted to trad itional desert sands act as a huge treatment plant. similarly dependent on a single dam re ­ methods of water conservation such as Several Middle East l countries are taining the waters of the Euphrates. dam construction. Damming of seasonal carrying out pioneering work in app lying But even these two countries are fortu­ rivers has become a major programme in treated sewage to trees and to food crops nate compared with those on the Arabian Saudi Arabia, for example. which need cooking before being eaten. peninsula. Natural water resources there The region is also developing as an Pilot projects are making good progress in are restrictecl to seasonal rivers, rarely agricultural test bed for the newest water Jordan, where the government is pushing controlled by dams, and rapidly diminish­ conserving technologies, from hydro­ ahead with construction work t o take ing groundwater reserves suffering ponics - soil -less farming - to modern effluent 4 0 kilometres by pipeline from encroachment from saline seepage. In methods of irrigation. The long-term aim Amman to large stabilisation ponds in the some areas of the UAE, water tables are is to ease the conflicting water demands desert. Farmers will tap the ponds as a falling by up to three metres a year. between farmers and urban populations. new source of irrigation water for care­ Concern over shortages was intensified J ordanian farmers are adopting drip fully selected crops. last year when a single event brought and sprinkler irrigation methods on a very In Oatar, an experimental project has home to Gulf states the vulnerability of large scale, encouraged by government- been set up incorporating the newly de- IJ> their sophisticated desalters. Iraqi bomb­ ing of oil platforms off the Iranian coast Posed a threat to the fragile ecology of the shallow Arabian Gu If. and also to the area's desalination plants. It takes only a trace of oil to heat up a Pla nt's exchangers and interfere w ith the desalination process, and according to US est imates, up to 12,000 barrels of oil a day were leaking into the Gulf from the blazing Nowruz platforms. Booms, mesh sc reens and fi lters were hurriedly erected around the coast's desalination plants. Wa er soared in price, reaching g 70 a oarrel in Oatar and brought back down to S30 only after government interven­ tion. Had the prevailing winds abated, sea currents would have brought more oil to he coast, overwhelming the emergency defences. This narrowly averted crisis combin­ ed with growing concern over the cost of desalination, has reinforced the efforts of governments throughout the region to find al ternat ive sources of supply. Libya OJ Cen 28 MlFD l OAUGlJST 1984 z ~:0 ~ m ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ~ veloped technique of growing crops on self, where experimental wor k is under last-resor t con t ingency, feasibility wo r sand using seawater, and in Egypt re­ way on a sol ar-powered d esal ter at has been carried out for a sch eme to pipe search has uncovered an Iranian melon Yanbu. 160 mill ion cubic metres a year of Wate which can be grown using the brackish Beyond the peninsula, polit ical con ­ from the Euphrates in Iraq ac ross rock water found in aquifers there. All these flicts frequently make exploitation of desert into northern Jordan. The 65(). efforts could pay off in the long term by water resources much more than a simple k ilometre pipeline is priced at more tha n cutting back on agricultural water con­ engineering exercise . Egypt, for example , $ 1,000 million. sumption, but in the meantime there is is already using the limit of its legal share Jordan is also involved in two long also an urgent need for improved of Nile waters under the 1959 Nile Waters running disputes with Israel. The first planning. Agreement with Sudan . Agricultural plans concerns Israel's proposals for channell ing Respons ibility for water supply tends are being restrained until the Nile flows Mediterranean waters into the Dead Se a to "be spread across several ministries, and are increased, following eventual comple­ - the "Med-Dead" scheme. Accord ing to contradictory policies are frequently tion of Sudan's Jonglei Canal. Jordan, valuable irrigated land will be pu pursued. In Oa tar, groundwater has had The Iran/Iraq war has inevitably at risk, as well as the Dead Sea potas to be diverted from agriculture to be affected progress of Iraq's S 1,500 million project. The second argument is ove r mixed with desalinated water for urban Mosul dam, and of plans for the long­ Israel's use of water from the Ya rmouk supplies. Yet uncontrolled consumption proposed Bekme dam, which is valued at with Jorda nian officials becoming part i: in the capital, including extravagant use around $3,000 mill ion. cularly vociferous during the recent of water for garden spraying, results in re­ Jordan, meanwhile, has had to com­ winter drought. gular winter flooding. Similarly , the pletely rewrite its water programme dur­ Several external solutions to Middle d is astrous lowering of groundwater levels ing the past 18 months due to its East water problems have been proposed in the UAE is largely the result of uncon­ seemingly intractable political problems during recent years, including grandiose trolled drilling by farmers. The position over the Maqarin dam, which would plans for towing iceberqs from polar re · in the emirates should improve now that have straddled the border with Syria. For gions and inflating rubber mountains the Central High Water Authority has decades, this project has been the centre­ along the Gulf coastline to encourage been created to oversee all water piece of Jordan's development plans, but cloud formation. The latest suggestion, exploitation. the government now regards it as a non­ and one that has already been implement· But whatever efforts are made to im­ starter. Before work could begin, agree­ ed on a modest scale, is for countries with prove management and optimise use of ment on water rights would be needed an abundance of water to ship their sur­ existing resources, most peninsular count­ with Syria and Israel, and the chances of plus supplies to the Gu If and North ries are resigned to long-term dependence reaching an accord now appear remote . Africa. on desal in ation _ Reverse-osmos is (RO) As a result, the existing King Talal F ranee is hoping to follow up its suc· technology, so far confined to small dam is being heightened. So too is the cess in shipping water to Spain last yea r plants, has advanced rapidly in recent Wadi Arab dam in northern Jordan, by finding new markets in the Maghreb. years and is potentially a serious rival to which is still under construction_ As a Tankers would simply shuttle back and the multi -stage flash (MSF) process that Najran dam , Saudi Arabia, wh ere a major forth between Mediterranean ports carry· has had a monopoly of the larger sea­ programme is under way to regulate seasonal ing around 83,000 cubic metres of water water desalinat ion complexes. Increased per trip. Japanese companies, like Mitsu i. use of RO could offer substantial cost are looking at the potentially lucrat ive savings. market in the Gulf. So too are UK in­ The biggest chance yet for RO to prove terests. The Welsh Water Author ity, with itself against MSF was the competition its large dam storage schemes, and th e earlier in 1984 for the 45,000-cubic­ N orthumbrian Water Authority, with th e metre-a-day AI-Dur plant in Bahrain . The vast but largely untapped Kielder plant is a gift to the island from King Fahd reservoir, are keen to cash in on interna· of Saudi Arabia, and the contract is tiona! water trade . But in their case water being handled by the Saudi Saline Water would be shipped as ballast in oil tankers Conversion Corporation (SWCC). return ing to the Gulf - so-called "back ­ When bids were opened in March, RO haul" t rade.