The United States-Israeli war over Iran has exposed the vulnerability of critical water infrastructure in one of the world’s most water-scarce regions.
This week, Iran’s foreign minister accused the US of striking a desalination plant on Qeshm Island off Iran’s coast in the Strait of Hormuz. Water supply to 30 villages has been stopped due to the strike. Just 24 hours later, Bahrain said an Iranian drone had caused material damage to its desalination plant near Muharraq.
The six Gulf states – Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates – are among the world’s most water-scarce countries and rely heavily on desalination to meet the needs of their combined populations of over 62 million people.
In this visual explanation, Al Jazeera unpacks how dependent the region is on desalination, how much water is produced each year and how the various desalination processes work.
There are no permanent rivers in the bay
The Gulf states are deserts without permanent rivers. Although they lack rivers, they have seasonal waterways called wadis, which carry water during rare rains.
These countries rely primarily on groundwater and desalination to supply water to their rapidly growing cities, industrial zones and agricultural areas.
The map below shows the major rivers and waterways in the Gulf vicinity.
7.2 trillion liters from desalination
The Gulf countries produce about 40 percent of the world’s desalinated water, operating more than 400 desalination plants along their coasts.
The limit set by the United Nations for absolute water scarcity is 500 cubic meters (655 cubic yards) per capita per year.
With an average per capita share of only 120 cubic meters (155 cubic yards) of natural freshwater per year, the Gulf countries therefore rely heavily on desalination to fill the gap between supply and demand.
According to a 2023 report by the GCC Statistical Center, the six Gulf states produced 7.2 billion cubic meters or 1.9 trillion gallons of freshwater through desalination. This volume translates to 122 cubic meters per capita per year, or about 334 liters (88 gallons) per day. However, their total installed capacity is much higher, estimated at 26.4 billion cubic meters annually.
One billion cubic meters equals one trillion liters.
Saudi Arabia is the largest and most populous of the states with 37 million inhabitants. It produced 3 billion cubic meters of desalinated water in 2023, followed by UAE 1.9 billion cubic meters, Kuwait 0.8 billion cubic meters, Qatar 0.7 billion cubic meters, Oman 0.5 billion cubic meters and Bahrain 0.3 billion cubic meters.
Dependence on desalination of Gulf states
Limited rainfall, absence of permanent rivers and depletion of groundwater reserves make natural freshwater resources insufficient for the Gulf’s rapidly growing population.
Without desalination, it is impossible to maintain water for drinking and industrial and agricultural purposes. According to GCC Statistics Center data on water production and consumption, the total water supply in each country depends on desalination:
Qatar
At 61 percent, Qatar is the most dependent of the Gulf states on desalinated water. About 22 percent of its combined annual water supply of 1.1 billion cubic meters comes from groundwater and 18 percent from rainwater. However, when it comes to drinking water alone, Qatar relies almost exclusively on desalination, which accounts for more than 99 percent of its drinking water supply for its 3.2 million people.
Bahrain
Bahrain relies on desalinated water for 59 percent of its total annual national water supply of 0.5 billion cubic meters. For drinking water, this figure is over 90 percent. Additionally, 32 percent of water for its 1.6 million inhabitants comes from groundwater and 11 percent from rainwater, respectively.
Kuwait
Kuwait uses 47 percent of its 1.7 billion cubic meters of water annually through desalination, and 51 percent comes from groundwater and the rest rain.
UAE
The UAE has a roughly equal mix of water with 41 percent of its water derived from desalination and 46 percent from groundwater, and the rest from rainwater and treated wastewater. Its total is 4.8 billion cubic meters annually for 11.5 million inhabitants.
Oman
Oman produces 23 percent of its total 2.2 billion cubic meters of water annually from desalination for its 4.7 million inhabitants, followed by groundwater with 69 percent coming from rain and treated wastewater.
Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia produces more desalinated water than any other country, but with 18 percent of its total consumption coming from desalination, Saudi Arabia is least dependent on water from the Gulf states, relying on groundwater for 79 percent of its total water needs. Rainfall accounts for the rest of the 17.3 billion cubic meters the state produces annually for its 37 million inhabitants.
How desalination works
The process of removing salt and minerals from seawater to make it suitable for human consumption and irrigation. This is primarily achieved through thermal distillation or reverse osmosis.
Historically, the only way to desalinate water was to boil it and then collect the steam to obtain fresh water, which is essentially how thermal distillation works.
Seawater is pumped to desalination plants. From there, filters remove sand, algae and particles before heating the water until it forms steam, leaving behind salt and minerals. The steam is then cooled and condensed into pure distilled water. After this, minerals are added, and the water is disinfected to ensure it is safe to drink. Finally, the water is pumped into municipal pipelines or bottled for use in homes, businesses and industries.
Reverse osmosis, on the other hand, uses high-pressure pumps to force seawater through a semipermeable membrane that captures salt and minerals and allows water molecules to pass through.
This method is the most popular form of desalination because it is significantly cheaper to operate, uses less energy and does not cause thermal pollution through the discharge of hot water to the sea.
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