The Middle East and North Africa region is the most water scarce region of the world. The region is home to 6.3 percent of world’s population but has access to measly 1.4 percent of the world’s renewable fresh water. The average water availability per person in other geographical regions is about 7,000 m3/year, whereas water availability is merely 1,200 m3/person/year in the MENA region.
The region has the highest per capita rates of freshwater extraction in the world (804 m3/year) and currently exploits over 75 percent of its renewable water resources. Due to burgeoning population and rapid economic growth, the per capita water availability is expected to reduce to alarming proportions in the coming decades. By the year 2050, two-thirds of MENA countries could have less than 200 m3 of renewable water resources per capita per year.
Around 85 percent of the water in the MENA region is used for irrigation. This level of irrigation is not inherently sustainable and leads to overuse of scarce renewable water resources, which in turn results in increased salinisation. MENA’s average water use efficiency in irrigation is only 50 to 60 percent, compared to best-practice examples of above 80 percent efficiency under similar climate conditions in Australia and southwest US. Similarly, physical water losses in municipal and industrial supplies in the region are way above world averages. Nonrevenue water is 30 to 50 percent in some cities, compared to global best practice of approximately 10 percent.
BRWC IS H20 GOLD
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