Category Archives: Water Management

خطط برنامج الأمم المتحدة للبيئة تعزّزقدرة البلدان على رصد مصادر المياه

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 عندما نتكلم عن المياه، لابدّ لنا من التركيز على المنطقة العربية التي يشكّل سكانها 5 % من عدد سكان العالم، ولكنها لا تمتلك سوى 1% من اجمالي كميّة المياه العالمية. وفقا لتقديرات الأمم المتحدة، فان اثنتا عشرة دولة عربية تعاني من نقص حاد في المياه؛ اذ ان كمية المياه المتؤتية من مصادرمتجددة لا تصل الى 500 متر مكعب للفرد الواحد سنوياً. وقد طرحت الاستراتجية العربية للأمن المائي  (2030-2010)، مشاريع لادارة والاستخدام الكفوء لمصادر المياه. غير ان قطاع الزراعة لا يزال يستهلك 85% من مصادر المياه العذبة في حين لا تتعدّى العائدات الزراعية اكثر من 8% من الناتج القومي. كما ان … Continue reading →

World Wetlands Day – Protecting Our Wetlands For Our Common Future

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World Wetlands Day is celebrated on 2nd February every year. It marks the date of the signing of the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands on 2nd February 1971. World Wetlands Day was celebrated for the first time in 1997. Every year there is a different theme and the theme for World Wetlands Day 2025 is “Protecting Wetlands for Our Common Future”. What is a Wetland A wetland is a land area that is saturated with water, natural or artificial, static or flowing, fresh, brackish or salty and include areas of marine water, the depth of which at low tide does not … Continue reading →

تلوّث المياه في العراق: أزمة خفية تحت سطح النهر

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في بلدٍ وُلِدَ على ضفاف دجلة والفرات، تبدو مفارقة تلوّث المياه مأساة مزدوجة: مائيّة وهُويّاتية. فالعراق الذي علّم البشرية نظم الري والزراعة، أصبح اليوم يواجه واحدة من أخطر أزمات تلوث المياه في الشرق الأوسط، حيث تختلط ملوحة شط العرب بنفايات المستشفيات، وتتقاطع قنوات الري مع مجاري الصرف الصحي، في مشهد يعكس عمق الخلل البيئي والسياسي والإداري. أولًا: مصادر التلوث المائي في العراق رغم أن الصورة العامة تشير إلى “شح المياه”، إلا أن نوعية المياه تمثل تهديدًا أكبر، وأكثر خفاءً. مياه الصرف الصحي غير المعالجة أكثر من 70% من مياه الصرف الصحي في العراق تُصرّف مباشرة في الأنهار دون معالجة، وفق … Continue reading →

The Remarkable Dragon Spine Pump

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A Dragon Spine  (water ladder or in Thai rahad) is a low lift pump with sprockets that move a chain of paddles through a slanted trough. Water is lifted as the paddles push the water up the trough. Often sized for one person turning the wheel with push pull handles, but at times up to eight for rotary drives. The pump’s name comes from its resemblance to a dragon’s spine. The Dragon Spine pump has been used for millennia for irrigation and drainage and is still used by farmers in Southeast Asia. The Dragon Spine pump may have been first … Continue reading →

التأثيرات البيئية لتحلية مياه البحر

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تعتبر عملية التحلية عملية لإزالة الأملاح والمعادن من مياه البحر وتحويلها الى مصدر صالح للشرب. وهذه العملية مفيدة جداً في بعض المناطق التي تشهد طلباً متزايداً على المياه لندرتها والجفاف وازدياد عدد السكان وكذلك زيادة استهلاك المياه. ولأن المحيطات تغطي معظم سطح الأرض فإن توفر مياه البحر يعتبر حلاً مستداماً وطويل الأمد لواحدة من المشاكل التي لن تتلاشى بالوقت القريب. تم إنشاء 18 ألف محطة تحلية حول العالم بحلول عام 2015، وهذه المحطات تنتج 22870 مليون جالون من المياه العذبة يومياً، ويعتقد الخبراء المائيين أن تحلية المياه – بجانب التكنولوجيا المستقبلية – ستشكل مفتاحاً لبناء مجتمعات مقاومة للجفاف في العالم … Continue reading →

Strategic Ways to Improve Water Security in the GCC

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Water security has become an increasingly hot topic in the GCC as regional governments struggle to meet the water needs of a rapidly increasing population. If population and development levels maintain their fast-paced upward trajectory, so too will the demand for water, food, and energy increase at the same rate. The Gulf region as a whole remains geographically handicapped in the sense no major rivers flow through it, and it possesses few renewable aquifer endowments. Therefore, there is an urgent need for these states to manage their scarce water resources efficiently. Currently, the states rely heavily on groundwater sources, followed … Continue reading →

The Retreat of the Tigris River and Its Impact on Biodiversity in Northern Iraq

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The Tigris River, one of Mesopotamia’s twin lifelines, plays a vital ecological and socioeconomic role in northern Iraq. However, over the past two decades, it has undergone significant hydrological decline. This retreat, driven by a combination of climate change, upstream damming, and poor water governance, has caused a cascading effect on ecosystems and livelihoods, particularly in the northern provinces of Iraq such as Nineveh, Dohuk, and parts of Erbil. The drop in water levels in the Tigris River has: Severely impacted agricultural lands, especially in riparian zones that once depended on natural flooding cycles for soil fertility Diminished fish populations … Continue reading →

Water Scarcity and Mining: Navigating Environmental Pressures in the MENA Mineral Sector

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Water in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) is precious, but demand for the region’s copper, phosphate and rare-earth deposits keeps climbing. Those who are a part of this sector face a daily trade-off — unlock mineral wealth or safeguard every drop. The latest research uncovers how forward-thinking operators already make water-smart mining the norm. Water Stress — The Non-negotiable Starting Point In 2023, the average renewable water supply for each person in MENA hovered around 480 cubic meters — well below the 1,000 cubic-meter threshold that signals scarcity and barely one-tenth of the global mean. To complicate matters, … Continue reading →

Persian Wheel for Lifting Water – Another Ancient Innovation

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Lifting water can increase the area that can be farmed, improve agricultural productivity, and provide drinking water. A Persian Wheel lifts water with animal or human power when there is insufficient flow for a noria. The animal energy was often supplied by a team of oxen. The Persian wheel may have been invented in Persia, Egypt, Kush (Sudan), Nubia, India, or even China. The earliest reference is found in the Panchatantra (c. 3rd century BCE), where it was known as an araghaṭṭa a combination of the words ara (spoked wheel) and ghaṭṭa “pot” in Sanskrit. Early Mediterranean evidence of a … Continue reading →

The Environmental Impacts of Seawater Desalination

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Desalination is a process that removes salt and minerals from seawater and turns it into a potable resource. It is extremely helpful in areas experiencing rising water demands due to water scarcity, droughts, growing populations and increased water consumption. With the ocean covering most of the Earth’s surface, seawater provides a sustainable, long-term solution to a problem that won’t soon dissipate. By 2015, 18,000 desalination plants had cropped up worldwide, producing 22,870 million gallons of fresh water per day. Experts believe desalination, coupled with future advancements in technology, could be the key to establishing drought-proof communities worldwide. A clean source … Continue reading →

MBBR Technology in Wastewater Treatment: Things You Should Know

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Moving bed biofilm reactor (MBBR) is a biological technology used for wastewater treatment process suitable for municipal and industrial application. Another common name is moving bed film reactor. It was invented in the 1980s. MBBR offer an economical solution for wastewater treatment. STP MBBR technology is the use of a moving bed biofilm reactor in sewage treatment plants. MBBR wastewater treatment system enables efficient results of the disposal using low energy. The technology is used to separate organic substances, nitrification and denitrification. MBBR design is made of an activated sludge aeration system. The sludge is collected on the plastic carriers … Continue reading →

Water Crisis in Gaza

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Gaza Strip has been enduring constant Israeli bombardment for many years which has resulted in severe damages to its infrastructure and to its citizens. However the real risk is Gaza’s lack of usable water.  The only natural source of fresh water in Gaza is a shallow aquifer on the southern part of its coast; 90 to 95% of which is not safe for drinking because of neighboring seawater, sewage, and runoff from agriculture. Even though most of it is not fit for consumption, residents have no other choice but to resort to using it. UN hydrologists have indicated that current extraction … Continue reading →