Better water management is crucial for development, reports Eman Youssef from Beirut's Third International Water Con ference in the Arab Countries A campaign to raise public awareness about the urgent need for water conservation was launched at a major regional water conference recently held in Beirut. "Water scarcity in the Arab countries is fast becoming a potential source of social and political conflict," Lebanese Water and Energy Minister Ayoub Hamid told the Third International Water Conference in the Arab Counties. As the world's population rises, demand for water increases rapidly. The World Commission on Water estimates that by the year 2025, 48 countries are expected to face chronic freshwater shortages, affecting more than 2.8 billion people, who represent 35 per cent of the world's projected population. By 2025, demand for water will exceed supply by 56 per cent. Egyptian Water Resources and Irrigation Minister Mahmoud Abu Zeid, who was also in attendance, said the world average per capita share of fresh water is declining rapidly -- from over 12,000 cube metre in 1960 to 8,000 cube metre in 1990. It is expected to fall below 4,000 cube metre by 2025. Water scarcity, he said, is related to population increase. The current global consumption of all accessible fresh water (both surface and groundwater) is about 54 per cent; with the expected boost in global population, it will probably go up to 70 per cent in 2025. Held under the auspices of Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq Al-Hariri, and in cooperation with the Saudi Arabian and Lebanese energy and water ministries, the event brought together over 10 Arab countries, including Egypt. Lebanese Finance Minister Fouad Al-Siniora, Saudi Arabian Water and Electricity Minister Abdullah Al-Hassin, and Omani Electricity, Housing and Water Minister Khamis Al-Alwi attended the opening session. "The workshop was a unique opportunity to interact with the utility managers from the Arab countries, representatives of civil society and governments," said Nazir Zaitoun, chairman of ExiCon, the conference organiser. Participants discussed issues like sanitation and the environment, efficient and equitable water service provision, water purification and refining for re- use, management of water resources, dam building and water drilling, waste recycling, public awareness campaigns, and the role of the media. "The battle for water and sanitation will have to be fought in the slums of the growing urban areas of the developing countries," Hamid told Al-Ahram Weekly. The Lebanese minister said winning this battle would not be easy, given mounting population pressures and limited resources; a workable and realistic strategy was thus required. "Sustainable development will remain a distant dream if we are unable to provide the basic human needs of safe water and adequate sanitation to people, particularly to the urban and rural poor," said Abdullah Al-Rashid, whose contracting company was one of the event's sponsors. The conference featured technical sessions, professional development workshops and an exhibition featuring state of the art water usage equipment and technologies. Experts from 15 countries gave presentations reflecting their diverse experiences, best management practices and technologies. The presenters included the world's top academics, as well as private sector and government experts. Abdullah Al-Sheikh of Saudi Arabia's Saline Water Conversion Corporation discussed water sector privatisation. Al-Sheikh said privatisation's success and sustainability required a stable government "to build investor confidence in long-term projects such as the water industry". Several presentations discussed groundwater; Tanta University's Bakenaz Zeydon, the president of the Egyptian Water Resources Association (EWRA), said, "the situation in Egypt is complicated; wastewater management is still one of the great challenges." Most countries, she said, lack wastewater infrastructure facilities other than traditional household sanitary pits, which eventually, via infiltration, contaminate groundwater resources. The region's insufficient wastewater treatment and water scarcity, she said, could be solved via the implementation of an integrated water resources management strategy based on the application of appropriate wastewater treatment technology, human resources training and stronger regional cooperation and public awareness. Egypt's water needs are increasingly driven by a rapidly growing population, increased urbanisation, higher standards of living and an agricultural policy that emphasises expanded production to feed a growing population. With the population rising by more than one million people a year, Egypt is expected to be home to 86 million people by 2025. Abu Zeid said his ministry was working on a comprehensive plan to develop underground water resources in Sinai and expand current irrigation projects. He also emphasised that this would include the construction of reservoirs for obtaining rainwater, as well as a number of dam projects. He also indicated that if current water shortage, water quality and water management issues are not addressed properly, Egypt will be facing major water and food crises by 2005. The minister said that although limited water resources have been a problem since the late 1950s, rapid population growth over the past 20 years has made the situation critical. Developing new resources and changing water consumption habits, he said, could meet the increased demand. A flurry of water-related activities will be taking place in Egypt next year. The Ninth International Water Technology Conference will be held in Sharm Al-Sheikh from 17-20 March 2005. Meanwhile, EWRA will be busy preparing for the first International Conference on Water Resources in the 21st Century, which will take place in Cairo from 26-28 December 2005.
