Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
11
Nutrient
Recycling
Water
Purification
Water and Water Pollution
Water
CASE STUDY
Water Conflicts in the
Middle East
TURKEY
MEDITERRANEAN
SEA
LEBANON
WEST BANK
GAZA
SYRIA
IRAQ
IRAN
In the near future, water-short countries in
the Middle East are likely to engage in conflicts
over access to water resources. Most water in
this dry region comes from three shared river
basins: the Nile, Jordan, and Tigris-Euphrates
(Figure 11-1).
Three countries—Ethiopia, Sudan, and
Egypt—use most of the water that flows in Africa's
Nile River, with Egypt being last in line along the
river. To meet the water needs of its rapidly growing
population, Ethiopia plans to divert more water
from the Nile. So does Sudan. Such upstream diver-
sions would reduce the amount of water available to
Egypt, which cannot exist without irrigation water
from the Nile.
Egypt could go to war with Sudan and Ethiopia
for more water, cut population growth, or improve
irrigation efficiency. Other options are to import more
grain to reduce the need for irrigation water, work out
water-sharing agreements with other countries, or
suffer the harsh human and economic consequences
of hydrological poverty.
The Jordan basin is by far the most water-short
region, with fierce competition for its water among
Jordan, Syria, Palestine (Gaza and the West Bank), and
Israel. Syria plans to build dams and withdraw more
water from the Jordan River, decreasing the down-
stream water supply for Jordan and Israel. Israel
warns that it may destroy the largest dam that Syria
plans to build.
Turkey, located at the headwaters of the Tigris
and Euphrates rivers, controls how much water flows
downstream to Syria and Iraq before emptying into
the Persian Gulf. Turkey is building 24 dams along the
upper Tigris and Euphrates to generate electricity and
irrigate a large area of land.
If completed, these dams will reduce the flow
of water downstream to Syria and Iraq by as much
as 35% in normal years and by much more in dry
years. Syria also plans to build a large dam along
JORDAN
ISRAEL
KUWAIT
EGYPT
BAHRAIN
QATAR
SAUDI
ARABIA
OMAN
UNITED ARAB
EMIRATES
SUDAN
YEMEN
DJIBOUTI
SOMALIA
ETHIOPIA
Figure 11-1
Threatened natural capital:
many countries
in the Middle East, with some of the world's highest popu-
lation growth, face water shortages and conflicts over
access to water because they share water from three major
river basins.
the Euphrates to divert water arriving from
Turkey. This will leave little water for Iraq and
could lead to a water war between that country and
Syria.
Resolving these water distribution problems will
require a combination of regional cooperation in allo-
cating water supplies, slowed population growth, im-
proved efficiency in water use, higher water prices to
help improve irrigation efficiency, and increased grain
imports to reduce water needs. Finding a solution in
this and other water-short areas will not be easy. Cur-
rently there are no cooperative agreements for use of
158 of the world's 263 water basins that are shared by
two or more countries.
To many analysts, emerging water shortages in
many parts of the world—along with the related prob-
lems of biodiversity loss and climate change—are the
three most serious environmental problems the world
faces during this century.
