Abid Khazandar Al-Riyadh Future wars will be fought over water. There are already indications that water wars may soon erupt among the Nile Basin countries. Former Israeli prime minister, who is now foreign minister, Avigdor Lieberman threatened several times that Israel would not hesitate to destroy the High Dam in Egypt, if it had to as part of the water wars. His threats must be taken seriously because they are not empty and he is not bluffing. Many of the world's rivers have begun to shrink and lakes have begun to dry out. The substitute is the desalination of sea water which is extremely expensive. Rich countries, including ours, are complaining about the high cost of water desalination. We use large amounts of fuel to operate the desalination plants. We could, instead, export this fuel to earn extra income. Therefore, it is imperative to lower this cost if we are to continue using desalinated water. In this connection, Dr. Mohammed Bin Abdullah Abunayan, chairman of the board of directors of ACWA Power International said there was a need to reduce the cost, at least by tenfold, if we want to maintain the desalination process. He called for joining efforts to improve the desalination process which includes a reform of financing, storage, construction and the distribution system, apart from the traditional technology which is now being used. The need to reduce the cost stems from the fact that in the near future desalinated water will be the only source of the vital liquid in the Kingdom because the underground water has almost been totally consumed. The Ministry of Water and Electricity said the demand for water during 2011 reached 19.1 billion cubic meters of which about 15.97 million cubic meters, representing 83.2 percent, were consumed by agriculture. We should, therefore, rationalize our use of water especially as the establishment of new desalination plants may not keep pace with the rapid and increasing demand.
