Introduction
Over the past five decades, the GCC countries have witnessed an unprecedented and sustained economic and social transformation, which has been associated with one of the world’s highest population and urbanization growth rates, coupled with rapidly changing lifestyles and consumption patterns. Such transformation has been associated with a rapid increase in sectoral water requirements that goes beyond their limited available freshwater resources.
Although the GCC countries are situated in one of the most water-scarce regions of the world with an extremely poor endowment of freshwater resources, they have done well in the provision of water supply to their populations by relying on desalination technology, which is made possible by their strong economies and substantial financial and energy resources. Currently, a safe, affordable and stable domestic water supply has been established in each country covering 100% of its population. However, municipal water supply systems are associated with substantial financial, economic, and environmental costs.
On the other hand, agricultural water demands, representing about 80% of the total water requirements in the GCC countries, have been met mainly by heavy groundwater abstraction, and to a lesser extent by treated municipal wastewater. However, a major concern is that the majority of these groundwater resources are non-renewable, are being extensively mined and are rapidly depleting, while the remaining limited and renewable groundwater resources are being over-exploited beyond their replenishment rates, leading to their quality degradation due to saltwater intrusion.
