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Public consciousness about water usage, use of retreated water for irrigation and adopting sustainable default water disposal systems are measures that Qatar could adopt to combat growing challenges of water security globally.
Data from the World Resources Institute’s (WRI) Aqueduct tools reveal that 17 countries face “extremely high” levels of baseline water stress, where irrigated agriculture, industries and municipalities withdraw more than 80% of their available supply on average every year.
Twelve of the 17 are in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). The region’s hot and arid climate means the water supply is low, to begin with, but growing demands have pushed countries further into extreme stress.
“We do need to be more careful as to our water usage,” Laurent Lambert, Assistant Professor at the Doha Institute for Graduate Studies, told The Peninsula in an interview.
Though authorities have proposed strategies to ensure water security to meet future demands for water will be safely met until 2025, yet more needs to be done.
“We have to be honest and look at the statistics. It is important that people are aware and decrease their water consumption, understanding that it is a very precious resource.
Talking about how individuals can reduce water consumption, Prof. Lambert said, “When a population is asked to be very careful, they will reduce consumption by a few percent. If you increase the tariffs and taxes and restrict them even by law, you may decrease by more than 10 or 15%. But you can only go so far and may rapidly upset many people. But we have to do it,” he added.
According to Prof. Lambert, Qatar, besides the awareness of water usage, the country needs to have greater reuse of very carefully retreated sewage water for agriculture and industry. He stressed that in some places across the country, ornamental trees are still being irrigated with desalinated water.
Considering the cost and process of desalination, Prof Lambert said, “This should not work; there should be way more reuse of all the water that is retreated,” he said, adding that this would greatly help the country meet its goal of planting 10 million by 2030.
Qatar’s population growth and infrastructure development have recently increased pressure on water usage, with demand rising from 1.9 million cubic metres (mcm) per day in 2019 to 2.2 million mcm by the end of 2022. Individual water consumption in Qatar ranks among the highest in the world, almost double the global average of around 150 litres per day.
Prof. Lambert also added that the water pressure of faucets and taps in many public places, including mosques and malls, is way too much for what is needed, leading to overusing water.
“People are just used to using more water. Because it’s automatic, you cannot reduce the amount coming out. We need to have default systems and mechanisms that provide just what is enough. For now, probably half of the water used in these places is wasted,” he added.
