Risks and threats of desalination in the Arabian Gulf

4th International Conference on Water Resource and Environment

地球科学;生态环境科学

Paleologos, E.K.^1 ; Al Nahyan, M.T.^2 ; Farouk, S.^2

Department of Civil Engineering, Abu Dhabi University, UAE, Abu Dhabi

59911, United Arab Emirates^1

College of Business Administration, Abu Dhabi University, UAE, Abu Dhabi

59911, United Arab Emirates^2

关键词: Economic resources;    Gulf countries;    Oil production;    Residence time;    Shallow depths;    Shipping routes;    Source of waters;    Wastewater effluents;   

Others  :  https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1755-1315/191/1/012008/pdf
DOI  :  10.1088/1755-1315/191/1/012008

学科分类：环境科学（综合）

来源: IOP

【 摘 要 】

Desalination constitutes the sole long-term reliable and sustainable source of fresh water for the desert Arabian Gulf Region. The region is facing unprecedented growth with continuous population increase and economies that diversify from oil production to manufacturing and industry, and real estate and tourism. The scarcity of water makes it in addition to its life-sustaining role a limiting economic resource for the region. The current article analyses the situation in terms of desalination production in the region, which for the majority of the Gulf countries has doubled during the last decade, but still does not keep up with the continuously increasing water demand. In addition, the paper presents the risks and threats from utilizing as a sole source of water that of a closed sea, the Arabian Gulf, which has a small opening to open ocean, a shallow depth, and a long residence time. The Arabian Gulf serves also as a major shipping route for oil exportation, navigation, wastewater effluent outlet, tourism, and entertainment making management of all its functions complicated. Parsimonious use of water in all facets of the economy is hence recommended.