Governments Should Practice 'water Demand Management' To Rescue Region's Water Resources - Ifi Research And Policy Memo #2

IFI Research and Policy Memo #2 | January 2009
Governments Should Practice 'Water Demand Management' to Rescue Region's Water ResourcesHamed Assaf
Surging populations and increasing living standards in the Middle East are exacerbating the region’s water problem as countries begin to expect more of scarce and poorly managed water, warned Dr. Hamed Assaf, a professor of water resources engineering at the American University of Beirut. High water demand, negligence of water quality, and over-pumping are more serious threats to the region’s water supply than are the potential impacts of climate change, argued Assaf at the second lecture of the Issam Fares Institute for Public Policy and International Affairs (IFI) inaugural series on climate change.
“Though we have little water, we don’t take care of it,” said Assaf. Lebanon and Egypt face water quality and distribution problems. Untreated sewage from Cairo ends up in the Nile Delta lakes used for fishing, while Beirut suffers from water scarcity due mainly to inadequate water transfer and storage capacity