GCC spent $40b on desalination projects

Gulf states have pumped at least $40 billion into desalination projects to ensure their drinking water needs, and are set to make similar investment in the next three decades to quench their thirst and meet growing farming and industrial demand.

Official estimates showed the GCC nations now account for nearly 60 per cent of the world's total water desalination production and the share is expected to rise in the near future as they have already embarked on massive hydroelectric ventures.

The UAE alone produces around 12.5 per cent of the world's desalination output of nearly 24 million cubic metres a day to become the third biggest producer of sweet water from sea desalination projects after Saudi Arabia and the United States.

"The Gulf region is one of the most arid areas and poorest in water resources in the world, given its desert nature and scarce rain fall," the Doha-based Gulf Organisation for Industrial Consulting (GOIC) said in a study on water resources in the GCC.

"The six GCC countries are estimated to have spent at least $40 billion on desalination projects over the past 25 years.

"They are expected to make equivalent investments in the next 30 years to meet growing domestic consumption as a result of the rapid growth in the population and steady expansion in the agricultural and industrial sectors."

The GCC, which has more oil than water, has the highest water demand rate in the world, with a per capita consumption of more than 100 gallons per day.

"Sweet water demand is growing by around 10 per cent because of the hot weather and consistent growth in the farming and industrial sectors as most member states have launched ambitious programmes to develop non-oil sectors and diversify sources of income.

In the absence of sufficient ground water reserves, GCC states have no choice but to invest in costly desalination projects to ensure the needs of their growing populations after they turned down an offer by Turkey in 1988 to supply them with sweet water from its twin rivers of Ceyhan and Seyhan through a dual pipeline that could cost at least $21 billion.

According to official GCC forecasts, the population of the six members will grow by at least three per cent from around 28 million in 2000 to more than 44 million in 2020. In another scenario by the United Nations, it could exceed 51 million during that period.

"The sea is the GCC's only alternative as they are not expected to get water from foreign sources for security reasons," said Saudi economist Abdul Aziz Al Dakheel.

"They will have to spend a lot of money on expansion and maintenance of existing desalination plants and on the construction of new projects to meet high consumption caused by the rapid population growth, industrial growth and waste of water resources."

Experts said GCC countries, which are reeling under lower oil export earnings and growing development needs, should copy the UAE's experience in privatising their hydroelectric facilities to ensure funds for expansion projects and build new plants.

Estimates by GOIC, which advises on industrial policies in the GCC, showed water consumption for domestic uses in the six members surged from 1.2 billion cubic metres in 1985 to 3.2 billion cubic metres in 1990 and is expected to soar to 8.8 billion cubic metres in 2010.

Consumption in other fields jumped from 3.1 billion cubic metres in 1980 to 15.9 billion cubic metres in 1990 and was expected to reach 27 billion cubic metres this year.

Ironically, GCC states appear less vulnerable to water shortages than other fellow Arab League members although their natural water resources are limited.

A report by the Kuwaiti-based Arab Fund for Economic and Social Development showed the Arab region outside the oil-rich Gulf faces the spectre of thirst in the absence of measures to develop existing reserves and seek supplies from neighbouring countries which control most of the rivers that flow into the Arab region.

"Arab countries are suffering from severe pressures on their water resources and they have the worst situation in the world in terms of available water resources relative to their population," the report said.

"Their renewable water resources are estimated at 265 billion cubic metres a year and per capita share does not exceed 1,000 cubic metres compared with an international average of 7,000 cubic metres.

"It is expected that the water situation in the Arab world will get worse in the future because of high consumption."