Category Archives: Water Management

Water Crisis in Morocco – Response and Challenges

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Water, the most basic and essential resource on Earth, has become a privilege in many parts of the world. It is, without a doubt, one of, if not the most vital, resources for life. However, communities across the globe are increasingly facing drought and scarcity, and we have noticed a significant disparity in access to clean, drinkable water. As of 2022, nearly 500 million people across 19 African nations lack access to clean drinking water. The progress in resolving this issue has been slow due to the overexploitation of these resources, the impacts of climate change, and the historical sequels … Continue reading →

Can Treated Wastewater Help Algeria Overcome Water Scarcity?

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Water scarcity is among the most critical environmental and socio-economic challenges confronting Algeria. Located largely within arid and semi-arid climatic zones, the country experiences highly variable rainfall, frequent droughts, and limited renewable freshwater resources. Per capita renewable water availability in Algeria is estimated at around 404 m³/year, placing the country well below the internationally recognized water scarcity threshold of 1,000 m³/year [1]. Climate change projections indicate further reductions in precipitation, rising temperatures, and increased evapotranspiration, all of which are expected to intensify water stress in the coming decades [2]. In this context, the search for alternative and non-conventional water resources … Continue reading →

Long-Term Solutions to Address Water Scarcity in Jordan

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Jordan, characterized by its arid desert climate, is among the most water-scarce countries in the world. The nation’s renewable water resources amount to less than 100 m³ per capita annually—far below the water scarcity threshold. Overexploitation of groundwater, climate change, and rapid population growth have triggered an acute water crisis, leading to soil degradation, desertification, rising water costs, economic constraints, biodiversity loss, and public health challenges. Jordan primarily relies on surface water from rivers, groundwater, rainwater harvesting, and treated wastewater for reuse, while planning seawater desalination at Aqaba. To address the escalating water shortage, a long-term strategy integrating cloud seeding, desalination, … Continue reading →

How Algal Blooms Affect The Environment

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Algal blooms are thick layers of small green plants that appear on the surface of lakes and other water bodies due to excess nutrients, especially phosphorus and nitrogen. This covering on the surface of lakes and other water bodies is known as eutrophication. The excess level of nutrients that algae depend on results from human activities that cause pollution, such as fertilizer, wastewater, manure, and sewage runoff. Eutrophication can also be a natural occurrence from moderate accumulation of organic matter, silt, nutrients, and sediments gradually from the watershed. Algae come in different colors ranging from green, red, yellow, and brown. … Continue reading →

Membrane Innovation: Transforming Water Security in Arid Regions

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Membrane innovation has emerged today as one of the most decisive technological levers for arid countries facing water scarcity, degradation of natural resources, and the rapidly increasing water demand for drinking, agricultural, and industrial water. At the heart of this silent revolution, membranes, whether reverse osmosis, nanofiltration, ultrafiltration, forward osmosis, or emerging processes such as biomembranes and graphene-based membranes, have transformed the way dry nations produce, recycle, and secure their water supply. Far from being a simple technical tool, they have become a major geopolitical, economic, and environmental instrument. In the context of accelerated climate change, where extreme droughts are … Continue reading →

Water-Energy-Food Nexus in Arab Countries

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Addressing water scarcity, both natural and human-induced, in the Arab region is considered one of the major and most critical challenges facing the Arab countries. This challenge is expected to grow with time due to many pressing driving forces, including population growth, food demand, unsettled and politicized shared water resources, climate change, and many others, forcing more countries into more expensive water sources, such as desalination, to augment their limited freshwater supplies. The heavy financial, economic, environmental, as well as social costs and burden to be borne cannot be overemphasized. Furthermore, the water scarcity challenge in the Arab world is being … Continue reading →

Sahara Nature-Based Solutions: Algeria’s Ancestral Water Systems for Climate Resilience and Sustainability

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Nature‑based solutions (NBS) have emerged as a critical strategy for sustainable water resource management, especially in arid and semi‑arid regions where water scarcity is amplified by increasingly erratic rainfall, more frequent extreme weather events, and progressive ecosystem degradation. Algeria, which spans from the Mediterranean littoral to the vast expanses of the Sahara Desert, is endowed with a rich heritage of traditional hydraulic techniques adapted over centuries to the region’s harsh climate [1]. Long before modern hydraulic infrastructures, these techniques leveraged a deep understanding of local hydrology and integrated human settlements within the natural cycles, enabling a remarkable resilience to climatic … Continue reading →

Why Algeria Should Become the Regional Hub for Predictive Drought and Water Modeling

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North Africa is entering a new climate era defined by chronic drought, accelerating warming, and unprecedented pressure on water systems that were never designed for this level of stress. Over the last decade, the region has experienced a succession of dry years, but recent analyses from the Copernicus Global Drought Observatory show that since late 2023 the drought signal in northern Africa has been both multi-annual and structurally deeper than past cycles, with pronounced precipitation deficits, rising evapotranspiration, and abnormal land-surface temperatures. These dynamics have led to measurable impacts on groundwater recharge, agricultural productivity, and reservoir inflows, creating a complex … Continue reading →

الارادة والتعليم سر الانجازات الاقتصادية

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إقتصادياً؛ ينظر الكثير إلى مياه البحر من زاوية التكاليف الباهضة لمشاريع تحليتها، هذه النظرة تجعل من مياه البحر عقدة بدلاً من كونها حلا لبعض الحاجات الإقتصادية والمشاريع التنموية. قبل أيام أطلقت أستراليا مشروعاً زراعياً يعد الأول من نوعه على مستوى العالم، إذ يستغني عن التربة والمياه الجوفية والوقود الأحفوري، ويكتفى بأشعة الشمس ومياه البحر لإنتاج 17 ألف طن من الطماطم سنوياً. وفي ظل الأزمة التي تواجه العالم في الحصول على المياه العذبة وإنتاج الطاقة فإن المشروع يشكل الوجه الجديد للزراعة المستقبلية حسب تعبير مجلة New Scientist التي ذكرت أن المشروع استغرق ست سنوات فقط، وهي مدة قياسية بالمقارنة بمشاريعنا، بل حتى … Continue reading →

Seawater Reinvented: Inside the Race to Build Cleaner and Smarter Desalination

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Desalination has stopped being an engineering footnote and quietly become one of the most consequential climate-era industries. Once synonymous with enormous power plants, thick plumes of hypersaline waste and prohibitive costs, modern desalination is remaking itself along three intertwined axes: slashing energy needs, turning brine from a waste into a resource, and folding data-driven intelligence into plants and networks. The result is a trajectory that could make seawater an affordable, environmentally acceptable pillar of water security for coastal and island nations ; provided the industry solves the brine and emissions puzzles fast enough. Recent projects and a surge of academic work … Continue reading →

Advancing Circular Economy in Water Management in Algeria: From Wastewater to Strategic Resource

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As climate change accelerates water scarcity across the Mediterranean and the Sahara, countries are compelled to rethink their approach to water management. The traditional linear model of extracting freshwater, using it once, and discharging it into the environment is no longer viable in regions where rainfall is decreasing, aquifers are overexploited, and agricultural demand continues to grow [1-2]. In Algeria, this challenge is especially acute – declining annual precipitation, high evapo-transpiration rates, rapid population growth, and urban expansion place tremendous pressure on limited freshwater resources. At the same time, industrial and agricultural demands continue to rise, further stressing conventional water … Continue reading →

Managing Sudden Water Shortage Expenses in MENA Communities: Lessons From International Households

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Countries across the Middle East and North Africa live with some of the lowest freshwater availability per person. Several MENA countries receive less than 500 m³ of freshwater for one person each year. Reports from the FAO and UN Water show that climate patterns, higher temperatures, and population growth continue to put greater pressure on water systems. When supply suddenly stops, even for a short time, families face unexpected expenses. They should pay more for repairs, bottled water, filtration, or temporary storage. Usually, people should deal with immediate costs for filters, delivered water, pump repairs, or small tanks. Below are … Continue reading →