Middle East Water Crisis

What countries are made up of desert?

Take a minute to look at the precipitation map below. Be able to answer the FOUR questions to the right. 1.How many inches of rainfall does the majority of the Middle East receive? 2.What is the highest amount of rainfall in inches on the map? 3.What countries receive the most rainfall? 4.According to the precipitation map, the majority of the land is best suited for what activities?

Countries in Crisis Yemen Saudi Arabia Iraq Syria Jordan

Water Crisis- What is the cause?? Desertification (expansion of the desert) Poor agricultural practices Misuse of water (high consumption) Drought

Yemen- People are moving to cities due to aquifers depleting.

Effects of the Water Crisis Increased cost of water Inability to grow food Malnutrion and hunger-related illness Decreased standard of living Conflicts

War over Water?

Syria and Iraq blame Turkey's huge network of dams on the Tigris and Euphrates rivers for reducing water supplies by 50 percent

List three issues that make desalination a LESS than perfect solution Health issues due to high amounts of boron and bromide and lacks calcium Desalination plants harm wildlife and cause pollution Uses high amounts of energy Expensive

Other Solutions Treated Wastewater –Some treat wastewater multiple times –Used for crops –People fear contamination Importing water –Pipelines built for water distribution –Countries must work together to maintain pipelines Conservation –Limit use –Use drought tolerant crops –Change agricultural practices.

Do you know?? That GE is the world’s largest supplier of desalination plants in the world. GE’s desalination plants reclaim 2 trillion gallons of water a day. Their reverse osmosis plants take waste water and change it to 100 million gallons of water a day.

Movie Movie ….

Good Water Neighbors