Abstract
Presently, seawater desalination seems to be the most reliable source of clean water in the Arabian Gulf. However, multiple brine discharges from desalination plants endanger marine organisms. Similarly, high energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions raise sustainability concerns. By and large, lack of an integrated regional governance framework hampers realising sustainable desalination industry. This paper seeks to unravel complexities in sustainability dimensions of the Gulf’s desalination projects. It also identifies pathways for overcoming risks of fragmented governance of the desalination industry. The study applied principles of complexity theory, the DPSIR model, and the Earth System Governance paradigm to prop its theoretical and methodological underpinnings. The paper identified 29 factors (natural, institutional, technological, policy and demographic) that underscore dynamics of the Gulf desalination industry. The recommendations made for sustainable pathways were based on principles of the Earth System Governance and interdisciplinary team building. This study stressed that sustainable future for the desalination industry in the Gulf region would depend on building a unified, and comprehensive desalinated water governance framework.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Ackerman EA (1969) Population, natural resources, and technology. Ann Am Acad Polit Soc Sci 369:84–97
Alsharhan R, Nairn AEM, Bakhit DW, Alhajari SA (2001) Hydrogeology of an arid region: the Arabian Gulf and adjoining areas. Elsevier, Amsterdam
Altaee A, Mabrouk A, Bourouni K, Palenzuela P (2014) Forward osmosis pretreatment of seawater to thermal desalination: high temperature FO-MSF/MED hybrid system. Desalination 339:18–25
Arconada B, Delgado P, García A (2013) Minimizing environmental risks on constructing marine pipelines: Aguilas desalination plant. Desalin Water Treat 51(1–3):246–261
Ay N, Olbrich E, Bertschinger N, Jost J (2011) A geometric approach to complexity. Chaos 21(3):037103
Bettencourt LMA (2013) The origins of scaling in cities. Science 340(6139):1438–1441
Biermann F (2012) Planetary boundaries and earth system governance: exploring the links. Ecol Econ 81:4–9
Biermann F (2013) What is earth system governance? Interview with Jon Turney. http://www.futureearth.info/2013-jul-15/what-earth-system-governance. Viewed on 17 July 2013
Biermann, F, Betsill MM, Gupta J, Kanie N, Lebel L, Liverman D, Schroeder H (2009) Earth system governance: people, places and the planet. Earth System Governance Report 1, Lund
Borja A, Galparsoro I, Solaun O, Muxika I, Tello EM, Uriarte A, Valencia V (2006) The European water framework directive and the DPSIR, a methodological approach to assess the risk of failing to achieve good ecological status. Estuar Coast Shelf Sci 66(1–2):84–96
Burt JA (2013) The growth of coral reef science in the Gulf: a historical perspective. Mar Pollut Bull 72(2):289–301
Burt JA, Feary DA, Cavalcante G, Bauman AG, Usseglio P (2013) Urban breakwaters as reef fish habitat in the Persian Gulf. Mar Pollut Bull 2(2):342–350
Carvalho TM, Fidélis T (2013) The relevance of governance models for estuary management plans. Land Use Policy 34:134–145
Dawoud MA, Al Mulla MA (2012) Environmental impacts of seawater desalination: Arabian Gulf case study. Int J Environ Sustain 1(3):22–37
Delyannis E, Belessiotis V (2010) Desalination: the recent development path. Desalination 264(3):206–213
Eales A, Clifford M (2013) Sustainability and engineering. University of Nottingham, Smashwords
El-Habr HN, Hutchinson M (2008) Efforts of regional and international organisations in reducing levels of pollution in the Gulf. In: Abuzinada AH, Barth HJ, Krupp F, Böer B, Al Abdessalaam TZ (eds) Protecting the Gulf’s marine ecosystems from pollution. Birkhäuser Verlag AG, Basel
Gaffney O (2013) Hacking for urban sustainability. http://www.futureearth.info/2014-jan-9/hacking-urban-sustainability. Accessed 1/2/2014
Ghaffour N, Missimer TM, Amy GM (2013) Technical review and evaluation of the economics of water desalination: current and future challenges for better water supply sustainability. Desalination 309:197–207
Gregory AJ, Atkins JP, Burdon D, Elliott M (2013) A problem structuring method for ecosystem-based management: the DPSIR modelling process. Eur J Oper Res 227(3):558–569
Ignaciuk A, Rice M, Bogardi J, Canadell JG, Dhakal S, Ingram J, Leemans R, Rosenberg M (2012) Responding to complex societal challenges: a decade of Earth System Science Partnership (ESSP) interdisciplinary research. Curr Opin Environ Sustain 4(1):147–158
Karagiannis IC, Soldatos PG (2008) Water desalination cost literature: review and assessment. Desalination 223(1–3):448–456
Keshavarz N, Nutbeam D, Rowling L, Khavarpour F (2010) Schools as social complex adaptive systems: a new way to understand the challenges of introducing the health promoting schools concept. Soc Sci Med 70(10):1467–1474
Khan NY (2008) Integrated management of pollution stress in the Gulf. In: Abuzinada AH, Barth HJ, Krupp F, Böer B, Al Abdessalaam TZ (eds) Protecting the Gulf’s marine ecosystems from pollution. Birkhäuser Verlag AG, Basel
King P, Mori H, Kipp R (2012) Asia-pacific, green economy, and institutions for sustainable development. In: Greening governance in Asia-Pacific. Institute for Global Environmental Strategies – IGES White Paper IV, Hayama
Latteman S, Hopner T (2008) Impacts of seawater desalination plants on the marine environment of the Gulf. In: Abuzinada AH, Barth HJ, Krupp F, Böer B, Al Abdessalaam TZ (eds) Protecting the Gulf’s marine ecosystems from pollution. Birkhäuser Verlag AG, Basel
Lattemann S, Amy G (2013) Marine monitoring surveys for desalination plants – a critical review. Desalin Water Treat 51(1–3):233–245
Malecki EJ, Ewers MC (2007) Labor migration to world cities: with a research agenda for the Arab Gulf. Prog Hum Geogr 31(4):467–484
Merwe R, Lattemann S, Amy G (2013) A review of environmental governance and its effects on concentrate discharge from desalination plants in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Desalin Water Treat 51(1–3):262–272
Mezher T, Fath H, Abbas Z, Khaled A (2011) Techno-economic assessment and environmental impacts of desalination technologies. Desalination 266(1–3):263–273
Mohammad R, Sidaway JD (2012) Spectacular urbanization amidst variegated geographies of globalization: learning from Abu Dhabi’s trajectory through the lives of South Asian men. Int J Urban Reg Res 36(3):606–627
Nadim F, Bagtzoglou AC, Iranmahboob J (2008) Coastal management in the Persian Gulf region within the framework of the ROPME programme of action. Ocean Coast Manag 51(7):556–565
Parkes MW, Morrison KE, Bunch MJ, Hallström LK, Neudoerffer RC, Venema HD, Waltner-Toews D (2010) Towards integrated governance for water, health and social–ecological systems: the watershed governance prism. Glob Environ Chang 20(4):693–704
Raouf MA (2009) Water issues in the Gulf: time for action. The Middle East Institute policy brief no. 22. The Middle East Institute, Washington, DC
Reynolds RM (1993) Physical oceanography of the Gulf, Strait of Hormuz, and the Gulf of Oman -results from the Mt Mitchell expedition. Mar Pollut Bull 27:35–59
Shatat M, Worall M, Riffat S (2013) Opportunities for solar water desalination worldwide: review. Sustain Cities Soc 9:67–80
Sheppard C et al (2010) The Gulf: a young sea in decline. Mar Pollut Bull 60(1):13–38
Tscherning K, Helming K, Krippner B, Sieber S, Paloma SG (2012) Does research applying the DPSIR framework support decision making? Land Use Policy 29(1):102–110
UNEP (2012) The UN-water status report on the application of integrated approaches to water resources management. UNEP, Nairobi
United Nations (1992) Declaration of the international conference on water and the environment, Dublin, Ireland, 26–31 January 1992. http://www.un-documents.net/h2o-dub.htm. Accessed 2 Feb 2014
Werbeloff L, Brown R (2011) Security through diversity: moving from rhetoric to practice. Water Sci Technol 64(4):781–788
World Bank (2005) A water sector assessment report on the countries of the Cooperation Council of the Arab States of the Gulf. World Bank, Washington, DC
Younos T (2005) Environmental issues of desalination. J Contemp Water Res Educ 132:11–18
Zellner ML, Theis TL, Karunanithi AT, Garmestani AS, Cabezas H (2008) A new framework for urban sustainability assessments: linking complexity, information and policy. Comput Environ Urban Syst 32(6):474–488
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2015 Springer International Publishing Switzerland
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Barau, A.S. (2015). Governance Strategies for Addressing Sustainability Risks of Seawater Desalination in the Arabian Gulf. In: Baawain, M., Choudri, B., Ahmed, M., Purnama, A. (eds) Recent Progress in Desalination, Environmental and Marine Outfall Systems. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-19123-2_15
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-19123-2_15
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-19122-5
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-19123-2
eBook Packages: Earth and Environmental ScienceEarth and Environmental Science (R0)