Climate change poses threats to water sustainability and security

TDT | Manama                                             

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com    

Reported by Julia Cassano

Water is at the core of sustainable development and is critical for socioeconomic development. Although GCC countries have done well in the provision of water to their populations, current challenges will be aggravated in the future due to global climate change and will act as an additional stressor to the water sector, according to a leading academic authority in water resources management.

Water is vital for reducing the global burden of disease and improving the health, welfare, and productivity of populations. If a shortage of water occurs or its quality deteriorates, our lives and socioeconomic development will be constrained.

Speaking to The Daily Tribune, Prof Waleed Zubari, the Professor of Water Resources Management and Coordinator of the Water Resources Management Programme at Arabian Gulf University, said that the GCC countries are located in one of the driest regions in the world where there are very low rates of rainfall, “yet see high evaporation rates due to the high temperature.

This, therefore, creates impossible conditions for surface water to exist. “If we add the population dimension to this naturally very dry area, we will find that the per capita share of renewable water resources is the least in the world, reaching about 70 cubic meters per year."

"The world average is about 5,500 cubic meters,” the top professor said. Prof. Waleed explained that the lack of water constrains development, which negatively affects living standards, health, and the environment. He, however, noted that despite the high scarcity, the GCC countries have done well in the provision of this commodity to their populations.

“Thanks to their strong economies and substantial energy resources, a safe, affordable, and stable domestic water supply has been established in each country by relying on desalination,” he said.

Currently, all GCC countries have achieved nearly 100 per cent access to safe and affordable drinking water, which is one of the targets of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to be achieved by 2030.

Despite the great progress, GCC countries have demonstrated by relying on desalination, the process is associated with significant financial, economic, and environmental costs. “The issue is that desalination is energy-intensive, consuming large volumes of gas and oil resources locally, representing high opportunity costs to the GCC countries."

Also, desalination causes environmental impacts such as air pollution, greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, and coastal and marine environment deterioration.” He said that these costs are increasingly rising due to the rapid population growth occurring in GCC countries.

Highlighting other challenges related to desalination, he said: “The domestic water supply systems in GCC countries depend heavily on desalination plants, where 75 percent of the domestic water supply comes from desalination."

"The majority of the plants feed on water from the Arabian Gulf (except for Oman and western Saudi Arabia) and are highly vulnerable to oil and chemical spills, red tide, wastewater agricultural waste discharges, hurricanes, and many others.”

He pointed out that all the current challenges will be aggravated in the future due to climate change and will act as an additional stressor for the water sector. “The increase in temperature will increase water consumption and, thus, increase the associated costs and water supply challenges." ” How can we tackle these issues?

“To achieve high levels of water sustainability and security, the GCC countries will need to shift their emphasis from ensuring the sustainability of supply to ensuring the sustainability of consumption. To achieve this shift, structural, socio-political, and economic policy instruments will need to be developed,” Prof. Waleed said.

He said that the GCC countries will need to work on all areas, as, from experience, when implemented together, these instruments would complement and reinforce each other. “Community participation is a key factor in achieving the shift from supply-side management to demand-side and efficiency management and ultimately contributes to achieving water sustainability in the GCC countries."

Awareness and education regarding water issues must be raised in the GCC society to influence individual behaviour. "Moreover, it is important to employ societal influencers and personalities to improve the attitude of the GCC society towards water and environmental issues.”