Bahrain has said an Iranian drone strike caused material damage to a water desalination plant in the country, marking the first time a Gulf nation reported attacking such a facility during the eight-day war between Iran, the United States and Israel.
Sunday’s attack comes a day after Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said the United States had attacked a freshwater desalination plant on Qeshm Island in southern Iran.
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“The water supply in 30 villages has been affected. Attacking Iran’s infrastructure is a dangerous measure with serious consequences. The United States set this precedent, not Iran,” he said on X on Saturday.
While Tehran has yet to comment on the Bahrain attack, it has raised questions about the vulnerability of Gulf countries, which rely on desalination plants for most of their water supply.
How important are water desalination plants to the Gulf region? Can water security be ensured in the Gulf amid an expansion of military targets to include energy and other civilian sites?
What are desalination plants?
A desalination plant converts primarily seawater into water suitable for drinking, as well as for irrigation and industrial use.
The desalination process involves removing salt, algae and other contaminants from seawater using a thermal process or membrane-based technologies.
According to the U.S. Department of Energy, desalination systems “heat water so that it evaporates into vapor, leaving impurities behind, and then re-condenses into a liquid for human use.”
Membrane-based desalination, meanwhile, involves “a class of technologies in which saline water passes through a semipermeable material that allows water to pass through but retains dissolved solids such as salts.”
Reverse osmosis is the most popular membrane technology. Most Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries use reverse osmosis because it is an energy efficient technique.
Why are desalination plants important for the Gulf?
Water is scarce in the Gulf region due to the arid climate and erratic rainfall. The Gulf countries also have very limited natural freshwater resources. Groundwater, along with desalinated water, accounts for about 90 percent of the region’s major water resources, according to a 2020 report by the Gulf Research Center.
But in recent years, as groundwater has also begun to deteriorate as a result of climate change, Gulf countries have begun to rely heavily on energy-intensive seawater desalination to meet their water needs.
More than 400 desalination plants are located on the coasts of the Arabian Gulf, stretching from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to Kuwait, supplying water to one of the most water-scarce regions in the world.
According to a 2023 research paper published by the Arab Center in Washington DC, GCC member states account for about 60 percent of global water desalination capacity and produce nearly 40 percent of the world’s total desalinated water.
About 42 percent of the UAE’s drinking water comes from desalination plants, while that figure is 90 percent in Kuwait, 86 percent in Oman and 70 percent in Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia also produces more desalinated water than any other country.
Desalination has also played a crucial role in enabling economic development in the region, according to Naser Alsayed, an environmental researcher specializing in the Gulf States.
He noted that after the discovery of oil in the late 1930s, the Gulf states had very limited natural freshwater resources and could not meet the demands created by population growth and expanding economic activity.
“Therefore, desalination plants were introduced,” he told Al Jazeera, adding that the importance of desalinated water in supporting Gulf development is often overlooked.
“As a result, attacking or disrupting desalination facilities would put much of the region’s economic stability and growth at significant risk,” he said.
“Secondly, desalination is the main source of fresh water for most GCC states, especially smaller, water-scarce countries such as Bahrain, Kuwait and Qatar. Because this water is mainly used for human consumption, desalination carries a strong humanitarian dimension and is essential to sustaining daily life in the region, making any disruption to these facilities particularly significant for the population,” he added.
Iran also uses desalination plants, which have been installed in coastal areas such as the island of Qeshm in the Gulf. But Iran also has many rivers and dams and is not as dependent on desalination plants as other countries in the Gulf region.
If a desalination plant is attacked, what is the impact?
The Gulf’s heavy dependence on desalination plants has made it vulnerable in times of conflict.
During the 1990-1991 Gulf War, Iraqi forces intentionally destroyed most of Kuwait’s desalination capacity and damage to its water supply was severe.
A 2010 CIA report (PDF) also warned that while “national dependence on desalinated water varies substantially among Persian Gulf countries, the disruption of desalination facilities in most Arab countries could be more consequential than the loss of any industry or commodity.”
According to Alsayed, the impact of an attack on a plant in the region depends, however, on the local scenario.
“For Saudi Arabia, which is the country least reliant on desalination and has significant geographic footprint, facilities in the Red Sea provide resilience. The UAE has 45 days of water storage aligned with its 2036 water security strategy, so contingency plans are in place to manage potential disruptions,” he said.
“The effects are likely to be felt most acutely in smaller states that rely heavily on desalination, such as Qatar, Bahrain and Kuwait, which have minimal strategic reserves,” he noted.
“In my opinion, the most significant impact is psychological,” Alsayed said. “Water is essential for human life, and the perception of risk can cause fear and panic, which is particularly challenging in the current environment in the region and where authorities are working to remain calm.”
How can water security be guaranteed?
As attacks on Gulf countries continue, targeting energy and civil infrastructure, Alsayed stressed that it is important for GCC countries to view water security as a regional issue rather than an independent concern of each member state.
“Countries need to coordinate more closely and work together. The GCC has a strong platform to prepare for water challenges, but has not fully utilized it,” he said.
Alsayed noted that the GCC’s Unified Water Strategy 2035 called for all member states to have an integrated national energy and water plan by 2020, but this has not yet been achieved.
“Whether through unified desalination networks, shared regional strategic water reserves or diversifying water resources objectives, this is the way to usher in a new era to strengthen the Gulf’s water security,” he said.
