Live updates: Follow the latest news on US-Iran war
Last week, the world celebrated Water Day. With a campaign slogan of "where water flows, equality grows", this year's theme is "Water and Gender". Access to clean water and sanitation is a human right, directly linked to living a dignified life and good health.
War of course adds a further threat to water resources, from water contamination fears in Lebanon to threats to desalination plants. Monday’s news that a service building at a power and water desalination plant in Kuwait was damaged in an Iranian attack is a worrying development. As well as the loss of life – an Indian worker was killed in the incident – the strike highlights concerns about the vulnerability of critical infrastructure serving civilian water needs.
The networks that supply this arid region with much of the water used for drinking, agriculture and industry did not spring up overnight. Early desalination experiments in the 1920s and 30s paved the way for the construction of the first modern plants in the early 1950s. The development and urbanisation that accompanied the discovery of hydrocarbons necessitated increased capacity. Now hundreds of these desalination plants line the shores of Gulf countries.
Water’s central role to life in the region was further underlined recently by the extreme weather that lashed several Arab countries late last week. In some parts of the Arabian Peninsula, a year’s worth of rain fell in one day, leading some to speculate if this would improve countries’ water security. However, although torrents of rainwater are likely to top up aquifers in the short term, relying on a water bonanza from irregular rainfall is not a viable way forward. As Inesaf Benzaki, a regional campaigner with Greenpeace Mena told The National recently, such rains “are not a viable or reliable recharge source for long-term water strategies”.
The UAE is a country that has made water security a non-negotiable priority. The Emirates’ Water Security Strategy 2036 is aimed at reducing the total demand for water resources by 21 per cent, raising the reuse of treated water to 95 per cent and increasing the country’s water storage capacity up to two days. The UAE also works internationally on water scarcity and later this year will co-host the UN Water Conference with Senegal.
The country is also keenly aware of the need for redundancy. Instead of relying on one or two major desalination plants, the UAE has a multi-layered network that can provide water in the case of pollution or algal bloom in Gulf waters. By having a mix of thermal desalination, reverse osmosis, multiple plants and an energy mix that can keep desalination running even in difficult circumstances, citizens and residents can feel confident that water shortages will not be an issue.
Nevertheless, to live in a largely desert country and yet have clean, fresh water available on tap is not something to be taken for granted. This boon is the result of painstaking investment in and maintenance of the technologies for that produce, supply and distribute water to homes, farms and businesses. Striking at these is something that sets the region collectively on a dangerous path.
