Saudi government would stop buying wheat from local farmers by 2016, as part of a drive to discourage farming and conserve limited water resources.
Gulf must act to stem heavy water use
Saudi Arabia made headlines last month when it announced the government would stop buying wheat from local farmers by 2016, as part of a drive to discourage farming and conserve limited water resources.
This move is the most recent acknowledgement of a familiar problem: Saudi Arabia is using its groundwater 10 times more quickly than it can be replenished. The Gulf Co-operation Council nations consume an average of 850 cu m of water per capita each year, compared to a global average of about 500 cu m and a UK average of 165.
For years, inefficiencies in the GCC water sector have been overlooked. Water and wastewater tariffs recover only about 10 per cent of capital and operational costs, which requires the water sector to be heavily subsidised. That approach seemed sustainable when high oil prices accrued ample revenues, but it is coming under increasing scrutiny as oil prices have dropped.
There are a number of ways GCC governments can increase the sustainability of their water supply.
One solution, as Saudi Arabia highlighted, is agricultural reform. More than 80 per cent of the region’s water is used for this sector, which contributes just 1-6 per cent of each country’s gross domestic product. Even nations that are not ready to take the Saudis’ bold step of relying more on imports can decrease water use by as much as one-third by modernising and optimising irrigation systems.
Another initiative, which has not yet been implemented as broadly as it could be, is to make people and companies pay for more of what they use, with better metering and revenue collection.
Increases in municipal tariffs can reduce demand by 20-35 per cent. For instance, the water and electricity tariff reforms that Dubai implemented in January should allow its utilities to recover their operational costs in full and cut consumption by as much as 30 per cent.
In conjunction with tariff reform, governments can promote conservation through education and the use of water-efficient showers, lavatories and taps. These steps alone can reduce domestic use from 250 litres per person daily to as little as 190.
Another conservation method is to repair leaks in households and domestic distribution networks: Saudi Arabia, Oman, Qatar and Bahrain together could save up to 1.8m cu m daily in this way. Kuwait and Dubai have done so and achieved water loss rates of 5 per cent and 12 per cent respectively compared with 23-45 per cent in the other GCC countries.
Governments are also exploring the potential of “reuse water” for landscaping, agriculture and industrial use. The GCC uses more than 2m cu m of such water a day, and treatment capacity is expected to increase by
13 per cent annually for the next five years. The sale of reuse water would create new revenue for utilities, while its cost to customers is about one-third that of desalinated water.
Meanwhile, desalination technology is evolving, and governments must invest in innovation. New desalination technologies have cut the cost of water from $5.50 per cu m in 1979 to about $1, but regional governments are seeking ways to make it cheaper still, as well as more environmentally friendly.
The most “green” approach, as well as one of the cheapest, is reverse osmosis, but it is not well suited to the Gulf’s highly saline waters; more research could help address this problem.
Finally, as governments cast a critical eye over their water industries, they should take this opportunity to encourage greater involvement of local companies – especially in desalination, in which the region has a strong knowledge base. Doing so would address another perpetual problem in the GCC – high unemployment among nationals – while also spurring innovation.
Although governments are taking steps on many of these fronts, they must intensify their efforts. Gulf populations are expanding, industrial growth increasing, and the depletion of the region’s groundwater will only worsen. Without dedicated action now, the GCC could face a very dry future.
Walid Fayad, Nadim
Batri and Johnny Ayoub are respectively vice-president, principal and senior associate at
Booz & Company |
