Reverse Linkage

102 REVERSE LINKAGE T he Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region will be facing the major challenge of a widening gap in water supply and demand by 2025. This is attributed to limited renewable water sources and an anticipated high population growth. The increases in water requirements for the dynamic socio-economic development of the region will also be affected negatively by climate change. Overcoming the expected water deficit in 2025 will require an estimated 237 billion m 3 , making it necessary to augment supply through desalination, increased water reuse of adequately treated wastewater sources and the mining of non-renewable groundwater. Desalination is becoming increasingly important as a solu- tion to the region’s water problem. Many water-stressed Islamic countries are increasing their supplies through desalination to meet the needs of a continuous growth in population and industry, tourism, and developments in agriculture. Several projects have been announced recently, including nine new desalination projects at the red sea cost of Saudi Arabia, and several new desalination projects are planned inMorocco, Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, UAE and Oman. Desalinated water can no longer be considered a marginal resource as some countries such as Qatar and Kuwait are 100 per cent reliant on it for domestic and industrial use, whereas the reliance of Saudi Arabia is nearly 60 per cent. These huge capacities in the region have been brought about by technological improvements, which have led to a drop in the cost of desalination. Currently, the global market is led by Saudi Arabia with a total cumulative capacity higher than 10 million m 3 /day. However, the process of desalination is not itself envi- ronmentally friendly and seawater desalination plants also contribute to wastewater discharges that affect coastal water quality. This is mostly due to the highly saline brine that is emitted into the sea, which may be increased in tempera- ture, and contain residual chemicals from the pre-treatment process as well as heavy metals from corrosion or intermit- tently used cleaning agents. The effluent from desalination plants is a multi-component waste, with multiple effects on marine ecosystems, and therefore affects the quality of the resource it depends on. Clearly, there is a need to deal with the environmental impact of desalination, and reduce the cost of such energy-intensive technology. The Middle East Desalination Research Centre (MEDRC) was established in Muscat, Oman, in 1996 to deal mainly with those challenges. As a centre of excellence in desalina- tion and water reuse technology, MEDRC’s mission includes promoting and supporting the use of desalination to satisfy the needs of the people of the MENA region, by providing available, affordable, clean freshwater for human use and economic development. This is accomplished through the advancement of desalination technology, education in the technology and training in its use, technology transfer, tech- nical assistance, and building cooperation among nations to form the joint projects and international relationships necessary to meet the needs for freshwater. The main objective is to develop and foster produc- tive partnerships between desalination private industry, academia, regional communities, and the Centre, in order to optimise available resources and leverage MEDRC’s investment in desalination activities, as well as to maximise involvement of the desalination players to advance technol- ogy exchange, particularly among regional experts. MEDRC and knowledge sharing for water desalination Jauad El Kharraz, Middle East Desalination Research Center (MEDRC) Online Plants Capacity (m 3 /day) Senegal 545 Mauritania 2,240 Morocco 195,260 Algeria 2,319,806 Tunisia 146,215 Libya 513,092 Palestine 27,536 Jordan 271,077 Saudi Arabia 10,038,876 Oman 1,301,483 Total capacity 14,816,130 Desalination capacities over a range of Islamic Development Bank member countries Source: DesalData 2017