The middle east water question looking behind convention assumptions

Abstract EN

All the economies of the Middle East face xporsening water resource pnMcms.

Their Imputations tin- rising and the demand for freshwater is rising proportionately.

The 300 million population of the Middle East and North Africa at the millennium will double to 600 million by 2030.

The supply of naturally occurring freshwater is finite.

Rainfall, which in other regions (such as the temperate latitudes) contributes most of the imter budget of an economy, provides only a tiny proportion of the ivater for Middle Eastern economies.

The region s thirsty irrigated tracts haw already driivn the regional demand fur u'atcr far beyond locally sustainable leivls.

The readily developable resources are already king heavily used.

In many cases they are being severely overused.

A feature of iivter allocation and management within the region is that the tendency to overuse frrshu'ater is not discouraged by the government agencies responsible for tin* water sector.