Hostname: page-component-77c89778f8-m42fx Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-16T22:35:33.386Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Water transfer versus desalination in North Africa: sustainability and cost comparison1

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 March 2015

Saad A. Alghariani
Saad A. Alghariani*
Affiliation:
Water Science and Engineering, Alfateb University, Tripoli, Libya
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The North African region is experiencing water scarcity that is getting more severe with time. The regional annual average per capita water availability has been reduced from 2285 cubic meters in 1955 to 958 cubic meters in 1990 and is expected to reach 602 cubic meters by the year 2025. To meet the present and future water demands of the region the available options are limited to either long distance water transfers from the southern aquifers to the coastal areas or to investing in large scale seawater desalination technology. Economic analysis revealed that the cost of long distance water transfer can escalate to more than 0.83 US Dollars per cubic meter. When sustainability considerations are taken into account this figure may reach up to 2.35 US Dollars per cubic meter. While these figures were competitive with the cost of seawater desalination twenty years ago, the situation has been recently shifted in favor of seawater desalination which dropped from 5.5 US Dollars in 1979 to less than 0.55 US Dollars in 1999. It is concluded that sustainable development of North Africa will depend in the future on large scale desalination as a last resort. Presently, planned water transfer projects should be substituted by this fast growing technology as the best option.

Type
Articles
Information
Libyan Studies , Volume 34 , 2003 , pp. 147 - 152
Copyright
Copyright © Society for Libyan Studies 2003

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

1

Occasional Paper 49. SOAS Water Issues Study Group, School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS)/King's College London, University of London, March 2003

References

Notes

2 UNPD (United Nations Population Division). 1994. World Population Prospects. The 1994 Revision. New YorkGoogle Scholar.

3 PAI (Population Action International). 1995. Sustaining Water: Population and the Future of Renewable water Supplies. Washington, DCGoogle Scholar.

4 Alghariani, S. A. 1999. The North African aquifer System: a Reason for Cooperation and a trigger for Conflict. In Desert Development: Challenges Beyond the Year 2000. Proceedings of the Sixth International Conference on the Development of Dry Lands, 08 22-27, CairoGoogle Scholar.

5 Alghariani, S. A. 1997. Managing Water Scarcity Through Man-made Rivers. In Water for a Changing Global Community. Proceedings of the 27th IAHR Congress, August 10-15, San FranciscoGoogle Scholar.

6 Brown, and Root, (Overseas) Limited, 1990. Estimate of Cost of Water. Report No.(F1321A), The Management and Implementation Authority of the Great Man-made River Project. BenghaziGoogle Scholar.

7 Owens, W. and Brunsdale, K. 2000. Solving the Problem of Fresh Water Scarcity in Israel, Jordan, Gaza and the West Bank. Journal of the International Desalination and Water Reuse 9/4Google Scholar.

8 Leitner, G. 1998. Vibrant, Prosperous, Singapore, Time for Seawater Desalination.Journal of the International Desalination and Water Reuse 7/4Google Scholar.

9 Cran, J. 1994 Medusa Bag Project for the Ocean Transport of Freshwater in the Mediterranean and Middle East. In Satisfying Future National and Global Water Demands, Proceedings of the VIII IWRA World Congress on Water Resources, November, 21-25, CairoGoogle Scholar.