Desalination Technologies as a Response to Water Strategy Problems (Case Study in Egypt)

Abstract

Availability of fresh water is the prime mover of the human life ­activities. In fact, the development in general depends on fresh water availability. The ­average per capita renewable water worldwide is 7,700 m³/year, this average dropped to less than 1,000 m³ capita/year in MENA countries. As an example, in Egypt it is 780 m³/capita. The advances in desalination technologies have shown clearly that desalinated water can be used as a substitute to fresh water renewable resources. A breakthrough in reverse osmosis costs has been reached; recently, several studies showed that desalinated water for development of isolated areas is competitive to transported fresh water by pipe line. This fact is clear in developing coastal areas in Egypt and particularly in Sinai, which suffers from severe water shortage. The introduction of solar energy to power desalination equipment has given a new dimension to the expansion of this technology, as several studies have shown in MENA countries. This solution is particularly promising for the supply of fresh water for isolated areas. In the case of Egypt, the renewable water supply is constant at 60 billion m³/year from three sources: Nile River, rainfall and extraction from ground water reservoir (Nile basin aquifer). The demand is increasing annually at a rate of 1.25%. The forecasting studies show that water balance will suffer from 21 billion m³/year, in the year 2025. The water resources security is a vital issue for Egypt, and presents a real threat to the economic and social development. Another alarming issue is the water quality deterioration. The pollution of water ways threatens the environment. For Egypt, an IWRM (Integrated Water Resources Management) including desalination options to secure development and land reclamation is a must. The objectives of this chapter are to: (i) present an overview of desalination technologies; (ii) discuss the importance of desalination to respond to water scarcity problems.