Water Demand Management Is a Must in MENA Countries…But Is It Enough?

作     者：Wael Mualla 

作者机构：The Department of Civil EngineeringSchool of EnergyGeoscienceInfrastructure and SocietyHeriot-Watt UniversityDubai BranchUAE 

出 版 物：《Journal of Geological Resource and Engineering》 (地质资源与工程（英文版）)

年 卷 期：2018年第6卷第2期

页      面：59-64页

学科分类：08[工学] 081201[工学-计算机系统结构] 0812[工学-计算机科学与技术（可授工学、理学学位）] 

主　　题：MENA countries demand management water scarcity water gap 

摘      要：The majority of Middle East and North Africa(MENA)countries suffer from chronic imbalance between available water supply and rising water *** imbalance is expected to worsen even further in the future as a result of sharp population growth,rapid economic development and climate change,unless major positive measures are implemented to augment water supply and manage water *** supply management approach,on its own,practiced by many countries in the region for so many years has so far demonstrated its inability to bridge the“water gapbetween available water resources and rising water demand,as most traditional water resourced in almost all MENA countries have been exploited(or over exploited),and the cost of non-traditional water resources has become increasingly prohibitively high,apart from its environmental *** management is regarded by many water experts in the region as the answer or“panaceafor the water imbalance ***,is demand management approach alone able to solve the problem of water scarcity in the MENA region?In other words,if all demand management measures have been fully implemented,would there still be gaps between supply and demand that need to be filled with supply augmentation,andwill supply management options still need to be part of the solution?This paper tries to answer this question by reviewing several works in this domain,particularly,recent studies by the World Bank[9-11].It was concluded that,although water demand management measures should be given the first priority,especially,in the agricultural sector where it has the maximum impact,demand management on its own will not be able to bridge the“water gap,and supply management options,such as sea water desalination and the re-use of treated wastewater,will be part of the solution.