Water is the lifeblood of our planet and lack of access to clean fresh water is one of the most significant

humanitarian, environmental and economic issues facing the world today. (RBC Blue Water Project, 2012)

Introduction
Millions of people depend on fresh water from three major

rivers. The Nile which starts in Africa, and Egypt is the last recipient of its water; the Euphrates which starts in Turkey and flows into Syria, Iraq and the Arabian Gulf; the Tigris which also starts in Turkey and flows into Iraq and the Arabian Gulf. Also, the Jordan River supplies fresh water to countries along its route. droughts, as well as the increase in population, has led to the shortage of fresh water in the Arab World. water in the majority of countries in the Middle East will be the spark that will ignite conflict and wars, rather than oil.

The environmental changes that contributed to many

Some Middle Eastern experts predict that the lack of fresh

Largest body of Fresh water in

Israel. 21 km (north to south) 141 feet deep Mainly fed by Jordan river (North) and under water springs. Drains into Jordan River (South) In the 1950s, Israel built a pipeline (National Water Carrier of Israel) to pump water out of the Sea of Galilee Decreasing Water levels due to high demand.

 Fed

by rain/snow from Mount Hermon, Lake Huleh, Sea of Galilee (Tiberias), Golan Heights Drains into the Dead Sea 251 Kilometres Was the main source of fresh water for surrounding regions Is now almost dry for most of the year

Jordan River
1960s moved 1.3 billion cubic

meters of water to the Dead Sea Dams, canals and pumping stations built by Israel, Jordan and Syria to divert water for crops and drinking have reduced the flow by more than 90 % to approx. 100 million cubic meters. Dead Sea is disappearing , with water levels are decreasing by 1 meter every year.

Ground Water Aquifers

An aquifer is a wet underground layer of water-bearing permeable

rock or unconsolidated materials (gravel, sand, silt, or clay) from which groundwater can be usefully extracted using a water well.

 Major source of water is from

underground aquifers.
Main water producing aquifers

are controlled by Israel.

Not enough rain water to replenish water taken out through pumps and wells
Wells become deeper as water table decreases

Salt water incursions from the sea (fingers of salt water that invade the fresh water aquifers)
Ground water in the aquifer becomes brackish

(salty) and can no longer be used for drinking and irrigation it will kill plants and animals

The West Bank

Yarkon-Tanninim Aquifer - Supplies Israel with

about 340 million cubic meters of water annually, used by the Jerusalem-Tel-Aviv area. Palestinians use about 20 million cubic meters a year. Nablus-Gilboa Aquifer - Supplies Israel with about 115 million cubic meters a year, largely for agricultural irrigation. The Eastern Aquifer - Supplies about 40 million cubic meters annually to the Israeli settlements in the Jordan Valley, and about 60 million cubic meters to the Palestinians.

Tigris-Euphrates
The Tigris and Euphrates rivers, which have their sources

within 50 miles (80 km) of each other in eastern Turkey travel southeast through northern Syria and Iraq to the head of the Persian Gulf.

Canals, dykes and dams were built in Iraqsouthern ,

routing the water of the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers around the marshes, instead of allowing water to move slowly through the marshland. After part of the Euphrates was dried up due to re-routing its water to the sea, a dam was built so water could not back up from the Tigris and sustain the former marshland.

Ilisu Dam (southern Turkey)

Located on the Tigris River, it is the largest hydroelectric

power plant of the project. It is estimated that 165 m high dam will create a reservoir with a maximum volume of 10.4 billion m and a surface area of 313 km and is expected to produce 3,800 GWh of power per year. Construction started on August 5, 2006, was halted after international funding was lost in December 2008 but began again in July 2009; expected completion in 2015. As for fears that the dam will become an international flashpoint - with the countries downstream, Syria and Iraq - receiving less water, officials pledge that the design of the dam will make it impossible to hold water back, and anyway Turkey would never want to.

IRRIGATION
Approximately 20% of crops are irrigated: 15% in USA,

70% in China Large quantities evaporate (30% if irrigated at noon) when using sprinklers; canals are worse Draining underground aquifers (China, India, Pakistan, Mexico, Middle East, North Africa, USA) Wells must get deeper Poisons the land with salt through fertilizers and leaching Salt water incursions: fingers of salt water move into the aquifer when the fresh water is depleted, making the resulting water brackish (salty) cannot be used for drinking or for crops (UAE, Saudi Arabia, Florida, Gaza Strip)

Canal irrigation is the least efficient.

Water sits on the surface in a series of canals and evaporates quickly.

Using sprinklers is an inefficient form of irrigation.

Basically, they roll in a large circle. It is used widely in desert areas to grow crops such as alfalfa or grain. You often see it in Egypt or the American Midwest.

Partial Solutions
Lower population growth Desalination plants (1% of fresh water, mostly in Middle

East); expensive ($1-$2 per cubic meter). What to do with the salt? Drip irrigation (water in plastic tubes to each plant)
Reduces water usage by 30-70% Increases plant yields by 20-90% (see next slide)

Genetic engineering of crops to require less water Water conservation, supported by higher prices for

fresh water Only irrigate in the early morning or evening Collect and store rainwater Recycle water (grey water) Eat grain rather than cattle (see next slide)

Eat Grain Rather Than Cattle

1 ton grain = 1,000 tons water

1 ton potatoes = 500-1,500 tons water

1 ton chicken = 3,500-5,700 tons water 1 ton beef = 15,000-70,000 tons water

For Indias Farmers, a Bare-Bones Drip System February 17, 2011 By VIKAS BAJAJ During a recent trip to a rural part of western India to report on rising food prices, I met two kinds of farmers those with access to irrigation and those without. The differences between the two were stark. Those with drip irrigation or sprinklers invariably were reaping rich harvests and profits. But the vast majority of Indias farmers fall in the second camp: they water their crops by flooding their fields with water from wells, or, if they are really poor, they simply wait for the monsoon rains. These farmers seem to live from crop cycle to crop cycle. Some years they hit a bumper crop if the rain is timely and plentiful but not overwhelming, but a bad flood or a weak monsoon can destroy them. Manik Singh Jadhav was one of the fortunate farmers. I interviewed him in this video. He has a masters degree in English literature but chose to farm the family plot, which now has 10 acres. He has a system from Jain Irrigation, an Indian company that has been growing at a breakneck pace selling drip systems that can deliver a measured quantity of water and fertilizers to the roots of every plant. Mr. Jadhav says farmers must invest in irrigation if they are to break out of the cycle of debt and failure that traps so many in India. But some systems cost about 45,000 rupees, or about $1,000, an acre. The Indian government provides a subsidy to cover as much as 50 percent of the cost of the system, but that is still too expensive for many farmers who earn less than 20,000 rupees an acre on their five-acre vegetable farm. That makes it unlikely that they will be investing in drip irrigation for the farm anytime soon.

Cloud Seeding
Cloud seeding is a long-practised technology which uses rockets, planes, cannons or ground generators to fire particles, usually silver iodide, into clouds to encourage water vapour to gather around them and eventually fall as rain.