Tehran: The world is worried over oil as conflict has gripped Middle East. But there is another reason to worry for and that’s water.
Across the world, Iran is one of the most water-stressed countries. All its sources of water are being utilized for agriculture, industrial purposes and consumption in the houses.
Experts have pointed out that drought, scanty rainfall and depletion in ground water have reduced the water levels in the reservoirs.
Rural population has been compelled to move to other cities due to water crisis, caused by shrinking rivers, depleted aquifers and disappearing lakes.
Significance of desalination facilities
In fact, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and other countries in the Gulf have been using fossil fuels to make drinking water. They utilize petroleum for running facilities that turn seawater into drinking water through desalination.
According to reports, about 100 million people in the Gulf depend on desalination facilities. With such plants, no one would be able to live in Kuwait, Qatar and the UAE, Saudi Arabia, and Riyadh.
Iran’s crisis and dependence on dams & wells
Last year, the government in Iran had reportedly considered moving the drought-stricken capital of Tehran to the coast. However, Iran is not entirely vulnerable to attacks on desalination plants. Iran’s water supply is also connected to dams and wells.
How has the war affected these facilities?
Reports claimed that the strikes made by Iran had hit close to significant desalination plant in Dubai. Israel had also attacked Dubai’s Jebel Ali port, which is near 43 desalination facilities.
The UAE’s Fujairah F1 power and water plant and at Kuwait’s Doha West plant have also been affected, according to news reports, due to strikes on nearby ports.
Past attacks on water facilities from the Saddam Hussein era
The attack on desalination plants in the Gulf was seen during Saddam Hussein’s 1990 invasion of Kuwait. After coalition forces began bombing Iraqi positions that time, some of the Iraqi troops started releasing millions of barrels of crude oil into the Persian Gulf. The US and Saudi officials feared it was meant to sabotage desalination plants. Thus, workers had to instal booms to protect intake valves at such plants. In Kuwait, Iraqi sabotage had damaged much of the country’s desalination facilities.
Kuwaiti authorities also turned to Turkey and Saudi Arabia to supply some water tankers and instead import emergency supply of bottled water. US supplied generators and mobile desalination facilities. But it took years to recover fully.
