Water Scarcity in SW Asia
Water is very scarce across Southwest Asia, resulting in
water scarcity, which affects health, education and life.
Water scarcity is one of the world’s biggest challenges,
because the lack of water is very deadly for human life.
There are two types of water scarcity, economic and
physical. Physical water scarcity is when all the people
living in a country or state or the population, uses all the
available water resources in all areas of the region, leaving
them with no freshwater left to bathe, wash clothes and do
other important habits. Economic water scarcity isn’t too
different, resulting in the same effect. Economic scarcity is
when the people of the region have enough water, but the
investments in water infrastructure makes the freshwater
unavailable. One example of physical scarcity is in the
Middle East, the lack of water in southern Saudi Arabia in
the Rub al Khali desert. For instance, in southern Saudi
Arabia, a desert climate, as the population increases, water
scarcity is becoming a bigger problem. In the Rub al Kahli
desert, one of the driest deserts in the world, water is very
scarce, but people still have little water, but that’s all
because of saltwater intrusion, making desalination plants,
providing most of the country’s drinking water. This means
that salt is taken out of the seawater and is being used for
drinking water. This is how bad physical scarcity is in Rub al
Kahli, (Southern Saudi Arabia). Another example of water
scarcity is in Jordan. This is going to be an example of
physical water scarcity. Jordan is one of the most water
scarce countries in the world. The people in Jordan have
used all their water resources, and now they cannot meet the
basic needs of their people, and they even have to ration the
water supply just because of this. Citizens only get water for
2 days a week. Israel and Syria get all the major water
sources, leaving only a very small amount of water resources
for Jordan. Israel has made pipelines to get water away from
Jordan. Two examples of how water scarcity may impact
quality of life for individuals is internal conflict and
population growth. This is mainly because when water is
scarce, more countries will compete for this resource. For
instance, Israel was blocking water sources from Jordan, as
explained already, Jordan faced internal conflict. Israel and
Jordan faced military battles just for water. Another way it
may impact is population growth because if water sources
are scarce in regions, then people know they will not meet
the basic needs in the region, and they would probably think
to go to somewhere like the U.S for a plentiful water supply.
Another reason is because without water, humans can
quickly get deadly diseases, mainly because of dehydration,
and the lack of freshwater in the region. All in all, Southwest
Asia faces many challenges when it comes to water.
Thanks.
