1. 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

2. Water Stress Worldwide: 1995-2025 Source: UNEP, GRID, Arendal, Oswald

3. SOURCES OF WATER 3 Major Sources:  Jordan River System / Kinneret  Mountain Aquifer  Coastal Aquifer

4. Chronic Water Scarcity For Reference: <1000 m 3 /cap/yr - Water Poor <500 m 3 /cap/yr - Chronic Water Scarcity U.S. => 9,710 m 3 /cap/yr World average 7,000 m 3 /cap/yr Israel => 270-300 m3/cap/yr (340 w/sewage) Jordan => 230 m 3 /cap/yr (245 w/sewage) Palestinians => 95 m 3 /cap/yr Lebanon => 1,300 m 3 /cap/yr

5. ME Water Resources – Water Crisis Water level of the mountain aquifer

7. 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

8. 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 Public’s Interest”

9. Potable water consumption by purpose in percentages (Source: Israel Central Bureau of Statistics, 2004) 198319932003 Agriculture716456 Domestic232938 Industry676 Total100

10. 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

11. The Promise of Desalination Seawater/brackish water Drinking water

12. 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

13. 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

14. 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

15. Efficient technology –MSF/RO Good quality product –Drinking water The price is right –$0.50/cubic meter But… desalination is an industrial process The Promise of Desalination

16. Seawater desalination capacity in cbm/day in the Mediterranean basin

17. Desalination is an Industrial Process Inputs –Seawater/brackish water –Energy Outputs –Waste/brine –Air Emissions Externalities –Coastal/inland impact –Noise pollution So…there are costs as well as benefits Reverse Osmosis Membrane Units Source: Halcrow Water Services http://www.hwsdesalination.com/Membran e%20Desalination.html

19. 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 Israel’s household water supply.

20. 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

21. International Water Transfers: Israel and the Palestinians

22. Another Example: The Dead Sea is Shrinking

23. Shoreline in 1984 Shoreline today

25. Technological optimism: Desalination to the Rescue The Red-Dead Canal or Peace Conduit

27. But…What 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

28. Critical Nature of Project An Integrated Approach is Required 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

29. 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

30. Desalination’s contribution to ME cooperation must be carefully explored –Needs versus rights –Technological optimism –Affordability –Environmental impact –Alternatives An Integrated Approach is Required Source: Walk Against Warming, Sydney Australia, Dec. 3 rd 2005 http://www.walkagainstwarming.org/