Water Crisis in the Middle East

Water is a ubiquitous resource, vital to support life, and therefore a prerequisite for peace and security in a region. The demand for water to serve the expanding Middle Eastern populations and burgeoning industries continue to increase, however, fresh-water supplies are finite, and it is becoming more and more difficult to utilize them on a renewable and sustainable basis. By nature, the Middle East is an arid region, with few major water sources that need to be shared among the various nations in the area. Most of the nations depend on non-renewable water sources, such as underground aquifers. Although social and economic, factors strongly affect the possibility of access to water, disputes over the water right in the banks of the rivers and lakes jointly shared by two or more countries and are not contained by international borders further complicate the water access problem. …