The Emergence of Desalination Technologies as a Means of Augmenting Water Supply and Ameliorating Conflict in the Middle East

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The Emergence of Desalination Technologies as a
Means of Augmenting Water Supply and Ameliorating
Conflict in the Middle East

• Clive Lipchin, PhD and Shmuel Brenner, PhD
• Arava Institute for Environmental Studies
• www.arava.org

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Water Stress Worldwide 1995-2025
Source UNEP, GRID, Arendal, Oswald
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SOURCES OF WATER

• 3 Major Sources
• Jordan River System / Kinneret
• Mountain Aquifer
• Coastal Aquifer

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Chronic Water Scarcity
For Reference lt1000 m3/cap/yr - Water Poor lt500
m3/cap/yr - Chronic Water Scarcity U.S. gt
9,710 m3/cap/yr World average 7,000 m3/cap/yr
Israel gt 270-300 m3/cap/yr (340
w/sewage) Jordan gt 230 m3/cap/yr (245
w/sewage) Palestinians gt 95 m3/cap/yr Lebanon
gt 1,300 m3/cap/yr
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ME Water Resources Water Crisis
Water level of the mountain aquifer
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Water Culture in the ME

• Israel
• Western/Zionist Attitudes
• Technological Optimism
• Hegemony of Agriculture (national level)
• Water as a commodity (public ownership,
  privatization)
• Despite scarcity, little public input in decision
  making

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WATER MANAGEMENT FRAMEWORK

• All Water is Property of the State
• National Water Commission (NWC) Allocates Water
  to Users
• NWC Has Responsibility to Allocate in the
  Publics Interest

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Potable water consumption by purpose in
percentages (Source Israel Central Bureau of
Statistics, 2004)
1983 1993 2003
Agriculture 71 64 56
Domestic 23 29 38
Industry 6 7 6
Total 100 100 100
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Inherent Water Problems

• Global climate change
• Increasing standard of living Rising demand
• Commitments to the neighbors
• Deterioration of water quality
• Overexploitation of surface and ground waters
• Pricing

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The Promise of Desalination
Seawater/brackish water
Drinking water
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Office of the Governor of Texas

• SAN ANTONIO -Gov. Rick Perry today called for the
  construction of the state's first large-scale
  ocean water desalination plant as one step toward
  securing an abundant water supply to meet Texas'
  future needs
• Press Release -April 29, 2002

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Time-Series of Global Desalination Capacity,
January 2005 The bars show annual new installed
capacity, and the line shows cumulative installed
capacity. Source Cooley, H. et. al. (2006)
Desalination with a Grain of Salt A California
Perspective. Pacific Institute
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Countries with More Than 1 of Global
Desalination Capacity, January 2005 Source
Cooley, H. et. al. (2006) Desalination with a
Grain of Salt A California Perspective. Pacific
Institute
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The Promise of Desalination

• Efficient technology
• MSF/RO
• Good quality product
• Drinking water
• The price is right
• 0.50/cubic meter
• But desalination is an industrial process

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Seawater desalination capacity in cbm/day in the
Mediterranean basin
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Desalination is an Industrial Process

• Inputs
• Seawater/brackish water
• Energy
• Outputs
• Waste/brine
• Air Emissions
• Externalities
• Coastal/inland impact
• Noise pollution
• Sothere are costs as well as benefits

Reverse Osmosis Membrane Units Source Halcrow
Water Services http//www.hwsdesalination.com/Memb
rane20Desalination.html
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Ashkelon Desalination Plant

• Largest Seawater RO plant in the world
• A cost of 220,000,000 to construct
• 100 mcm capacity
• Drinking water at a price of approximately 2.6
  NIS (0.57 USD) per cubic meter
• BOT principle
• Eventually desalination will provide
  approximately 15 percent of Israels household
  water supply.

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The Benefits of Desalination

• Good quality cheap drinking water
• A technological option for augmenting water
  shortages
• Can ameliorate water conflicts
• Water needs versus water rights

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International Water Transfers Israel and the
Palestinians
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Another Example The Dead Sea is Shrinking
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Shoreline today
Shoreline in 1984
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Technological optimism Desalination to the Rescue
The Red-Dead Canal or Peace Conduit
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The Red-Dead Canal or Peace Conduit
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ButWhat About the Costs?

• Desalination is energy costly
• Air emissions
• Waste products
• Highly saline brine
• Plume density
• Chemicals
• Temperature (MSF)
• Site of discharge
• Plant location
• Large
• Coast is crowded and over developed
• Interactions
• Other users of the coast (tourism, fisheries)
• Public Disturbances
• Noise

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An Integrated Approach is Required
Critical Nature of Project
Source Hull, R., Belluck, D. Lipchin, C. (2005)
A Framework for Multi-Criteria Decision-Making
With Special Reference to Critical
Infrastructure. In Ecotoxicology, Ecological
Risk Assessment and Multiple Stressors (Arapsis,
G., Goncharova, N., Baveye, P. eds.). Springer,
Netherlands
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An Integrated Approach is Required

• Desalination is supply oriented
• Status quo is maintained i.e. water for
  agriculture
• No need to confront the public
• What about demand management?
• Other water reuse options?
• Rethink water policy in the region
• Agriculture
• Industry
• Domestic
• Nature

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An Integrated Approach is Required

• Desalinations contribution to ME cooperation
  must be carefully explored
• Needs versus rights
• Technological optimism
• Affordability
• Environmental impact
• Alternatives

Source Walk Against Warming, Sydney Australia,
Dec. 3rd 2005 http//www.walkagainstwarming.org/