The Middle East has less than 1% of the world’s fresh water, but it’s home to about 6% of the global population. That’s a huge gap, right? It’s not some far-off problem; it’s the biggest infrastructure challenge the region faces today.

Why the Middle East is Running Out of Water

The water crisis there comes from three main things: a dry climate, lots of people, and shrinking aquifers. On average, folks on the Arabian Peninsula get less than 100 cubic meters of fresh water per person each year. The global average is around 6,000 cubic meters. The World Health Organization says anything under 1,000 cubic meters per person annually means you’re in a water scarcity zone.

Countries like Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, and the UAE basically have no permanent rivers. They rely almost totally on groundwater and desalination for their fresh water. Saudi Arabia, the biggest country in the region, has been pulling water from old fossil aquifers, especially the massive Saq aquifer, so fast that it can’t refill in any human lifetime. The FAO AQUASTAT database shows Saudi Arabia’s renewable water resources are about 2.4 billion cubic meters a year, but they’re using several times that much.

Desalination: The Big Fix

The Gulf states have tackled water shortages by building the world’s largest desalination setup. Saudi Arabia alone runs over 30 big desalination plants, making more than 5 million cubic meters of water every day. The UAE, Kuwait, and Qatar are also among the top 10 countries globally for desalination capacity.

Years ago, Middle Eastern desalination mostly used Multi-Stage Flash (MSF) thermal distillation. It used a lot of energy, but it worked well for facilities near oil refineries and power plants. Over the last twenty years, reverse osmosis (RO) has taken over from MSF for new plants. Today’s big SWRO plants in the region use less than 3.5 kWh per cubic meter, which is way lower than MSF’s 10-15 kWh per cubic meter, and they make water just as good.

The International Desalination Association (IDA) says the Middle East accounts for about 48% of global desalination capacity. The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries are driving most of the new project investments.

Beyond the Gulf: Water Problems in Jordan, Lebanon, and Iraq

While Gulf states solved their water issues with desalination, paid for by oil money, countries without that financial boost face much tougher crises. Jordan is always ranked among the world’s most water-scarce nations. Its per person renewable fresh water is only about 60-70 cubic meters a year, even less than Kuwait’s. The country relies heavily on the Jordan River basin, which it shares with Israel and the Palestinian territories, and on the overused Disi fossil aquifer.

Iraq, despite having the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, deals with worsening water quality. This comes from dams upstream in Turkey and Syria, farm runoff, and decades of neglected infrastructure. Lebanon’s water systems got hit hard by the 2020 Beirut port explosion, and they also struggle with poor management of their mountain spring water.

New Ways to Manage Water in the Region

Governments across the Middle East are trying a few different things to bridge the supply gap:

• Wastewater reuse: Israel is a world leader here, recycling about 85% of its city wastewater for farming. Saudi Arabia and the UAE are starting similar programs.
• Better farming methods: Old-school flood irrigation wastes 40-60% of water through evaporation. Now, farms are switching to drip and micro-irrigation systems. Saudi Arabia has also cut back on growing wheat to save water for agriculture.
• Solar-powered desalination: The Middle East gets tons of sun. Countries there are increasingly pairing solar panels with RO systems to lower the carbon footprint and cost of desalination. IRENA expects solar desalination capacity to grow five times in the region by 2030.
• Aquifer recharge: The UAE runs programs to store extra desalinated water underground. It’s like a bank account for water, there for emergencies.

How AMPAC USA Systems Help Regional Projects

AMPAC USA builds seawater reverse osmosis systems, brackish water RO units, and containerized water treatment systems. We engineer them for tough spots, like remote Gulf sites, military bases, and humanitarian aid operations across the Middle East and North Africa.

Our systems work with all sorts of water sources, including high-salinity Gulf seawater, brackish inland aquifer water, and mixed streams. They also use energy recovery devices to keep operating costs low for off-grid or diesel-powered setups. For project questions, just contact AMPAC USA.

Frequently Asked Questions

Which Middle Eastern country has the worst water scarcity?

Kuwait, Bahrain, and Qatar have the least amount of renewable water per person in the world. Saudi Arabia faces the biggest overall deficit because of its large population and how much water its farms use from non-renewable aquifers.

How does the Middle East get most of its drinking water?

Gulf states mainly get their city drinking water from desalination, using seawater reverse osmosis and, in the past, multi-stage flash distillation. Countries outside the Gulf, like Jordan and Iraq, rely more on rivers and groundwater, with some smaller desalination projects.

Is desalination the long-term answer for the Middle East?

Desalination gives a steady, scalable water supply that doesn’t depend on rain or aquifer levels. But it does take a lot of energy. As solar power gets cheaper, solar-powered RO desalination is becoming a sustainable long-term solution for coastal nations. Inland countries without ocean access need to combine groundwater management, water reuse, and efficiency improvements.

Sources: FAO AQUASTAT | International Desalination Association | IRENA | World Bank Water