Arab Press

بالشعب و للشعب
Thursday, Sep 18, 2025

Tech advances offer new hope for easing looming Middle East water crisis

Tech advances offer new hope for easing looming Middle East water crisis

As the effects of climate change are increasingly felt worldwide, countries in the Middle East and North Africa, which was already the most water-scarce region in the world, are facing ever-greater depletion of their water resources.
Meanwhile economic instability often stands in the way of effective water-related development and management programs.

These were among the key messages from an online panel discussion hosted by Middle East Institute in Washington on Wednesday.

Researchers and scientists said nations in the Arab world must embrace new ideas and technologies to help preserve water supplies and find fresh ways to limit loss.

Levels of water scarcity vary from area to area in the MENA region, and so diminishing supplies could lead to greater political instability and more conflicts between states over access to precious resources, they warned.

While older methods of gauging rainfall, precipitation and evaporation remain valid in the modern era, they recommended that satellite-imaging technology be used to monitor and better understand precipitation.

However, Raha Hakimdavar, adjunct professor of water and climate science at Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service in Washington, D.C., noted that the accuracy and availability of satellite imagery varies from place to place, and so it cannot resolve all the questions water scientists need answered to help them develop proper solutions to water loss in the region.

For example, the resolution of images and how frequently they are taken affect the accuracy of the data, she said.

Youssef Wehbe a non-resident scholar with the climate and water program at the Middle East Institute, said: “Today, the MENA region is placing unprecedented stress on water supplies, leading to an abrupt increase in water demand, threatening local food security and harming regional ecosystems.”

The region cannot keep up with the growing demand for water, he added, due in part to its nature as an arid and semiarid region in which there is less than 200 milliliters of precipitation a year and evaporation levels exceed 55 percent.

“As a consequence, the available water resources cannot cope with human demand in all major sectors,” he said.

American, European and Japanese satellites have produced accurate and reliable data about water resources in America, Europe and parts of Asia. In the Middle East, however, there continued to be a significant lack of accuracy in the available satellite data and imagery related to water issues, mainly as a result of lack of participation in initiatives to collect it.

However, some Arab Gulf states, such as Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Qatar, have established ambitious and promising space programs that could usher in a new age of satellite-based water research, said Wehbe, who is also a program officer for the UAE Research Program for Rain Enhancement Science.

Enrique R. Vivoni, a professor at the University of Arizona, said the amount of ground water lost over a 10-to-15-year period in the MENA region, based on research published in respected science journals, is staggering.

“The terrestrial water-storage loss in the Middle East is humongous and it’s on the scale of the average flow of the Colorado River Basin, which amounts to about 10 to 25 cubic kilometers of water lost to the atmosphere,” he said.

Vivoni added that the greatest loss of non-renewable underground water resources, based on satellite imagery, has been observed in Iran, northern Saudi Arabia, eastern Turkey and Iraq.

He urged officials in these countries to investigate the data to determine whether it is correct and, if so, to put measures in place to reduce or reverse the problem.
Newsletter

Related Articles

Arab Press
0:00
0:00
Close
Saudi Arabia cracks down on music ‘lounges’ after conservative backlash
Saudi Arabia Signs ‘Strategic Mutual Defence’ Pact with Pakistan, Marking First Arab State to Gain Indirect Access to Nuclear Strike Capabilities in the Region
Turkish car manufacturer Togg Enters German Market with 5-Star Electric Sedan and SUV to Challenge European EV Brands
World’s Longest Direct Flight China Eastern to Launch 29-Hour Shanghai–Buenos Aires Direct Flight via Auckland in December
New OpenAI Study Finds Majority of ChatGPT Use Is Personal, Not Professional
Kuwait opens bidding for construction of three cities to ease housing crunch.
Indian Student Engineers Propose “Project REBIRTH” to Protect Aircraft from Crashes Using AI, Airbags and Smart Materials
Could AI Nursing Robots Help Healthcare Staffing Shortages?
Turkish authorities seize leading broadcaster amid fraud and tax investigation
Apple Introduces Ultra-Thin iPhone Air, Enhanced 17 Series and New Health-Focused Wearables
Big Oil Slashes Jobs and Investments Amid Prolonged Low Crude Prices
Social Media Access Curtailed in Turkey After CHP Calls for Rallies Following Police Blockade of Istanbul Headquarters
Gold Could Reach Nearly $5,000 if Fed Independence Is Undermined, Goldman Sachs Warns
Uruguay, Colombia and Paraguay Secure Places at 2026 World Cup
Trump Administration Advances Plans to Rebrand Pentagon as Department of War Instead of the Fake Term Department of Defense
Tether Expands into Gold Sector with Profit-Driven Diversification
Trump’s New War – and the ‘Drug Tyrant’ Fearing Invasion: ‘1,200 Missiles Aimed at Us’
At the Parade in China: Laser Weapons, 'Eagle Strike,' and a Missile Capable of 'Striking Anywhere in the World'
Information Warfare in the Age of AI: How Language Models Become Targets and Tools
Israeli Airstrike in Yemen Kills Houthi Prime Minister
After the Shock of Defeat, Iranians Yearn for Change
YouTube Altered Content by Artificial Intelligence – Without Permission
Iran Faces Escalating Water Crisis as Protests Spread
More Than Half a Million Evacuated as Typhoon Kajiki Heads for Vietnam
HSBC Switzerland Ends Relationships with Over 1,000 Clients from Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Qatar, and Egypt
Sharia Law Made Legally Binding in Austria Despite Warnings Over 'Incompatible' Values
Dogfights in the Skies: Airbus on Track to Overtake Boeing and Claim Aviation Supremacy
Tim Cook Promises an AI Revolution at Apple: "One of the Most Significant Technologies of Our Generation"
Are AI Data Centres the Infrastructure of the Future or the Next Crisis?
Miles Worth Billions: How Airlines Generate Huge Profits
Zelenskyy Returns to White House Flanked by European Allies as Trump Pressures Land-Swap Deal with Putin
Beijing is moving into gold and other assets, diversifying away from the dollar
Trump Backs Putin’s Land-for-Peace Proposal Amid Kyiv’s Rejection
Zelenskyy to Visit Washington after Trump–Putin Summit Yields No Agreement
Iranian Protection Offers Chinese Vehicle Shipments a Cost Advantage over Japanese and Korean Makers
United States Sells Luxury Yacht Amadea, Valued at Approximately $325 Million, in First Sale of a Seized Russian Yacht Since the Invasion of Ukraine
Saudi Arabia accelerates renewables to curb domestic oil use
Cristiano Ronaldo and Georgina Rodríguez announce engagement
Asia-Pacific dominates world’s busiest flight routes, with South Korea’s Jeju–Seoul corridor leading global rankings
Private Welsh island with 19th-century fort listed for sale at over £3 million
Sam Altman challenges Elon Musk with plans for Neuralink rival
Australia to Recognize the State of Palestine at UN Assembly
The Collapse of the Programmer Dream: AI Experts Now the Real High-Earners
Armenia and Azerbaijan to Sign US-Brokered Framework Agreement for Nakhchivan Corridor
British Labour Government Utilizes Counter-Terrorism Tools for Social Media Monitoring Against Legitimate Critics
WhatsApp Deletes 6.8 Million Scam Accounts Amid Rising Global Fraud
Texas Residents Face Water Restrictions While AI Data Centers Consume Millions of Gallons
India Rejects U.S. Tariff Threat, Defends Russian Oil Purchases
United States Establishes Strategic Bitcoin Reserve and Digital Asset Stockpile
Thousands of Private ChatGPT Conversations Accidentally Indexed by Google
×