Solution to the Middle East and North Africas Water Problems - Literature review Example

Literature Review Middle-East Asia and North Africa (MENA) is one of most strategically located regions of the world, from various perspectives including political, economical, social as well as spiritual, with far-reaching changes mainly initiated and actualized by a single product – oil. As stated by Atkinson and Coffin (2003), “It isnt just a desert, intellectually or climatically.” Although, MENA is endowed with such a profitable natural resource, the other key natural resource of water is not found in abundance. Selby (2003) stresses water’s importance in Middle-Eastern context by stating, Water is the biological and ecological sine qua non, and water shortages doubtless could severely impact everyday lives of Middle Eastern people. The basic crux of the water problem is its geographical location. Juub & Azzam (qtd. in Zereini & Jaeschke 2004, p.354) spells out how MENA belongs generally to the arid and semi arid areas of the world, characterised by low rainfall, high temperature and evapotranspiration. Allan (2002) adds by providing a key fact, as Middle East is very poorly endowed with freshwater, the region has ran out of water resources even to meet its domestic and industrial use as well as for food production, in 1970 itself. The seriousness of water problem is further underlined by Saif (2008, p.2) by providing a dubious fact, that is, the MENA region has 5 percent of the world’s population and occupies 10 percent of the geographical region, but only has less than 1 percent of renewable freshwater resources. This fact about minimal water resources makes it clear that it is ‘natural’ for MENA to face water problems. These naturally occurring reasons were further accentuated by human ‘caused’ factors. Freshwater sources shortage has been the norm for many centuries, but these sources are pushed beyond limit because of the rapid population growth and ambitious development programs of the different countries in the region (Ju’ub & Azzam qtd. in Zereini & Jaeschke 2004, p.355). This increase in population has been a 20th century phenomenon and is expected to exceed 850 million by 2025 (Clarke & Fisher 1972; Beaumont 2002). So, if the projections of Beaumont (2002) actualize, then there will be more strain on the available water resources. Optimal industrial or infrastructural or economical development is also the reason for tough water situation. Although Hakura (qtd. in International Monetary Fund 2003, p.66) state that over the past two decades, economic growth in the MENA region has been weaker than in the other developing country regions, there is still a heightened need for water. Beaumont (2002) goes on to say, water needed for drinking purposes are small and constitutes just 2-6 cubic metres per capita per annum, so, the major use of water is for industrial purposes. Other social or personal factors like wasting of fresh water for private swimming pools, golf courses, etc, cultivating crops with high water demands like banana, citrus trees and flowers, instead of importing it, is also contributing to serious water problem (Swain 2004; Schuler 2008; Shuval & Dwiek 2007) To overcome these water shortages, MENA countries are implementing various strategies, with each strategy necessitating sizable investments. El-naser (2009) views water deficit like a budget deficit and states that to overcome water deficits, it requires huge capital investment, primarily by governments and the customers thereafter. Shuval and Isaac (1994, p.382) focus on this economic aspect deeper, by trying to find the value of water. According to them, the value of water is determining the cost of delivering it, that is, even when it is freely available at the sea or below the ground there are costs associated with the delivery of it to the end user. One of the main solutions tried is desalination plants. The MENA has already spent more on desalting plants than any other part of the world, with the region having 35 percent of the worlds plants (Anderson 1988; Wolf 1996). However, the costly budget particularly rising oil prices makes it a difficult solution to implement everywhere. El-naser (2009) states that desalination requires electricity (about 60% of total cost), and with the price of electricity producing oil increasing, it has created a new barrier to large-scale desalination plants. Recently, the typical unit cost of water quoted for new, large plants has increased to a range of US$0.65-US$0.85 per cubic meter, mainly due to the increase in the cost of energy (Biswas 2009, p. 252) With the budget for desalination slightly on the higher side, other optimal options have to be focused and the one which is showing good potential is Atmospheric Water Generation concept. The basic concept behind this option is, it gathers humidity from the surrounding atmospheric air, passes that air through a cooled metal coil and other purification chambers, with that humid air condensing into water. With AWG working mainly based on humidity content, it has optimal applications in humidity ‘rich’ MENA. Fridell (2008) states AWG can operate with the humidity as low as 14 percent and higher the humidity, the more water it produces. For example, in very humid air, the machine can turn out as many as 600 gallons (2,300 liters) of water a day. (Fridell 2008). In the case of MENA, humidity levels can reach 97 percent on most days of the year way above the minimum required levels of 14 percent, making it the ideal region for AWG implementation. As stated by Anderson and Fisher (2000), in the coastal regions of all MENA countries, humidity is at its highest for the year during the summer months in spite of a complete absence of rainfall. Bonne (2003) further adds that with no major mountain barriers to block, sea wind carries air with high humidity content into the countryside as well. From hygienic and cost perspective, AWG appears to be a feasible option. The cost-effectiveness of AWG was pointed out by Fridell (2008) “Operating costs are low. Using the AWG to produce 0.26 gallon (I liter) of water costs just three to six cents.” In addition, Cabacungan et al. (n. d) point out how UV irradiation used in AWG is a safe, effective, and economical approach to disinfection, eliminating many pathogenic organisms, and also how ceramic water purifiers (CWPs) have been found to reduce E. coli up to 99.99%. With these advantages, AWG can be aptly implemented. References Allan, JA 2002, Hydro-Peace in the Middle East: Why no Water Wars?: A Case Study of the Jordan River Basin, SAIS Review, vol. 22, no. 2, pp. 255-272 Anderson, E 1998, Water: The Nexte strategic resources. In The Politics of Scarcity: Water in the Middle East, ed. J Starr and D. Stoll, Westview Press Anderson, EW and Fisher, WB 2000, The Middle East: geography and geopolitics, Routledge. Beaumont, P, Water Policies for the Middle East in the 21st century: The New Economic Realities, Water Resources Development, vol. 18, no. 2, pp. 315--334 Biswas, AK 2009, Water Management in 2020 and Beyond, Springer. Bonne, A 2003, State and economics in the Middle East: a society in transition, Routledge. Cabacungan, PM et al. Engineering Clean Water System for off-Grid Communities, viewed on December 2, 2010 http://ohm.ecce.admu.edu.ph/wiki/pub/Main/PaulCabacungan/ERDT_final_write_up.doc Clarke, JI & Fisher WB 1972, Populations of the Middle East and North Africa: A Geographical Approach, University of London Press El-naser, H 2009, Management of scarce water resources: a Middle Eastern experience, WIT Press. Fridell, R 2008, Protecting Earths Water Supply, Lerner Publications International Monetary Fund 2003, World economic outlook: Public debt in emerging markets, Issue 2, International Monetary Fund. Saif, I 2008, The Food Price Crisis in the Arab Countries: Short Term Responses to a Lasting Challenge, Middle East Program, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Schuler, D 2008, Liberating voices: a pattern language for communication revolution, MIT Press Selby, J 2003, Water, power and politics in the Middle East: the other Israeli-Palestinian, I. B. Tauris. Shuval, HI & Dwiek, H 2007, Water resources in the Middle East: the Israeli-Palestinian water issues, Hexagon Series on Human and Environmental Security and Peace, vol. 2 Shuval, HI & Isaac J, 1994, Water and peace in the Middle East, Proceedings of the First Israeli- Palestinian International Academic Conference on Water, Zürich, Switzerland, 10-13 December 1992, Elsevier. Swain, A 2004, Managing water conflict: Asia, Africa, and the Middle East, Routledge, London. Wolf, AT 1996, Middle East Water Conflicts and Directions for Conflict Resolution, International Food Policy Research Institute, no. 31. Zereini, F & Jaeschke, W 2004, Water in the Middle East and in North Africa: resources, protection, and management, Springer. Extra Content This was validated by Fridell (2008) Atmospheric water generator (AWG) is based on modern science and this machine literally produces water out of thin air. Cabacungan et al. (n. d) provides details about the make up of AWG, “it has built-in ceramic filter and ultraviolet irradiation for water purification. It can be powered by solar energy stored in battery banks coupled with a variable frequency DC-AC inverter”. This advantage of high humidity is already visible through the heightened precipitation in the form of dew in many parts of Middle East, and so this advantage can be further utilized as part of AWG. Read More