Middle East Summit
Water Scarcity
As the population of the world increases, so does the demand for natural resources. A key natural resource needed by all countries and civilization is water, an increasingly rare resource. The quick population growth in the Middle East has strained the sources of water, creating a desperate and dire situation.
The Middle East, an area dominated by desert, is facing the growing threat of a water deficit. Many areas, constantly experiencing devastating droughts, are seeking new alternatives to harnessing the natural resource. Methods of irrigation are proving to be insufficient. The water captured by basic methods of irrigation may not even be usable for drinking, or any other purpose it may serve. In Jordan, only 5% of the annual rainfall can be used to provide families with the water that they desperately need. The other 95% is either runoff or lost through evaporation.
This issue has forced many countries to adopt new and unfavorable approaches. One of these new methods is reusing treated wastewater. Certain countries have been forced to reuse water that has already been used, but after a slight treatment. This lack of adequate treatment and recycling water can lead to potentially threatening cultures of bacteria and contaminations. However, if provided with proper resources, companies and governments can utilize new scientific methods to treat reusable water in order to make it a safer and more viable option.
The depletion of this crucial natural resource has added turmoil to an already politically unstable region of the world. Many of the countries in that region, with already precarious diplomatic relations with one another, are forced to share amongst themselves the water supplied by the three predominant rivers that are sources of usable water in that region: the Nile River system, the Tigris-Euphrates system, and the Jordan River system. For example, in 1967, while already on the brink of war, Syria and Israel were presented with the challenge of settling a dispute caused by Syria’s attempt to divert Israel’s water supply to Syria. This led to a strike by Israel’s Defense Forces and added to tensions that eventually led to war. Another effect the scarcity of water has on international diplomacies involves Iran and Iraq. A major cause of the Iran-Iraq war beginning in 1980 was dispute over who controlled the Shatt-Al-Arab waterway. Representing not only a source of water but also an international boundary, the Shatt-Al-Arab waterway and who had control over it proved to be a highly contentious topic of debate that led to disparities that could only be solved by all-out and devastating war.
These contentious relations between countries are only making the situation worse. The strained international relations block any potential cooperation between countries. Any progress that can initially be made is counteracted by neighboring countries with ulterior motives that have to compete for such a limited natural resource. The key progress that needs to be made is severely limited by political restrictions. The situation is growing worse and worse as the area’s population increases exponentially and the supply of water depreciates. It is imperative that a conclusion is reached multilaterally before the situation explodes and the threat of potential widespread drought and all the consequences of a depreciated water supply become realized.