GCC countries plan joint water supply system
http://www.qatar-tribune.com/viewnews.aspx?cat=fpg&d=20130719
KHOBAR (SAUDI
ARABIA) GULF Cooperation Council countries
(GCC) are planning a joint water supply system that takes seawater from outside
the Gulf and distributes drinkable water across member states, an official at
the GCC Secretariat General said.
Scarce fresh water supply is the biggest challenge for Gulf
Arab desert countries, forcing them to build energy- intensive seawater
desalination plants to meet rising demand.
Saudi Arabia is building the world's largest
desalination plant in Ras al Khair on the Gulf coast, but the GCC is
increasingly concerned that the waters of the Gulf may become undrinkable if
there are any leaks from energy installations into the water lying between the
Arabian Peninsula and Iran.
"The water link
is to build a line from the Arabian Sea or Gulf
of Oman to Kuwait passing through the GCC
countries," GCC assistant economic secretary Abdullah J al Shibli said.
"With the
Iranian nuclear plant in Bushehr, if something goes wrong the water in the Gulf
will be polluted." Arab Gulf countries sought reassurances from Iran at a UN nuclear agency meeting last month
over the safety of Bushehr, built on the earthquake- prone coast of Iran.
The Gulf is also home
to dozens of offshore oil rigs and loading facilities which could pose a threat
to drinkable water supplies in the event of a large leak like the Deepwater
Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico in
2010.
This is a vital and
strategic project to provide water under all circumstances..
for the water security, the idea is to build desalination
plants in all the countries, to produce the water," Shibli said.
The project, which
Shibli said may cost around $7 billion, will include storage facilities to
stock up on potable water.