With Technology, The Arab World Is Writing A New Success Story- Hayder Al Rawashdeh | |
Staff Writer |
Since Saudi Arabia water demand is 17.4 BCM in 2019 for all purposes (Urban, Industrial & Irrigation), urban water use in KSA in 2019 was 3,493 MCM/yr, of which 2,897.5 MCM/yr was consumed by the domestic sector and 595.4 MCM/yr by the commercial sector. The main sources of urban water are desalination and groundwater.3, 35% (1,237 MCM) of the total urban demand in 2019 was obtained from groundwater abstraction and 65% (2,256 MCM) from desalination.
Local governments have made it a priority to research climate change adaptation and mitigation strategies. The upcoming year is predicted to be one of the hottest on record, with extreme weather events increasing in size and frequency and, as a result, exacerbating the region's already severe water scarcity issues.
Several Arab governments have responded to these threats by increasing funding for cutting-edge technologies that can be used to preserve freshwater supplies, recycle and reuse wastewater, and lessen the ecological impact of desalinating seawater.
In addition, greywater treatment can be done locally, saving money on pumping by allowing water to be used and reused close to its point of origin. The United Nations estimates that 80 percent of wastewater around the world is currently being released into the environment untreated.
Condensation, dew collection, and fog harvesting are only a few of the methods that can be used to collect water from the air and contribute to the overall goal of atmospheric water harvesting: reducing the effects of water scarcity.
Commenting further on this technological development, Hayder Al Rawashdeh, Program Management, Wet Utilities stated, “By applying creative methods to develop water treatment processes and methodologies, monitor water resources and minimise losses, lower energy consumption, and use efficient irrigation procedures and technologies, the new technology will unquestionably play a crucial role and add great value to enhancing water resources and preservation.”
Water management technology might help minimise the water scarcity through the followings: |
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Is desalination striking the right chord?
The science behind desalination dates back centuries. For a long time, Middle Easterners have been evaporating salty groundwater or seawater and then condensing the vapour to make fresh, drinkable water.
The procedure has evolved into something more complex over time. Water is pushed under high pressure across semipermeable membranes in most modern desalination facilities to remove salt and other minerals.
Approximately 300 million people in 150 countries rely on the freshwater produced by the world's more than 17,000 desalination plants. Due to necessity and energy availability, countries in the Middle East have dominated this sector, but as freshwater shortages become a global concern, other regions are quickly catching up. According to Randy Truby, comptroller and past president of the International Desalination Association, an industry body, annual capacity growth is around 8%, with "bursts of activity" in areas like Australia and Singapore.
Energy expenditures account for an estimated 55% of desalination plants' overall operation and maintenance costs, and desalination plants around the world consume over 200 million kilowatt-hours each day. Producing one cubic metre of freshwater from seawater typically requires three to ten kilowatt-hours of energy at most reverse osmosis plants. The average energy consumption of a conventional water treatment facility is less than 1-kilowatt hour per cubic metre.
It also has environmental consequences, such as the displacement of marine life and the modification of local salinity.
To break the cycle of rising temperatures and decreasing rainfall that leads to dwindling freshwater supplies, scientists are investigating a variety of methods to reduce the cost and environmental impact of seawater desalination.
“Energy is a global concern; as a result, all industries, including water treatment, must find ways to reduce their energy footprint. Among the many potential solutions, graphene membranes may emerge as the industry standard; however, there is still a need for research into the potential environmental risks associated with these carbon materials,” opined Rawashdeh.
Most industry professionals agree that the efficiency of reverse osmosis cannot be improved. However, some scientists are attempting to extract even more by developing better membranes for this purpose.
In today's desalination processes, water is wicking through thin polyamide films folded into a hollow tube. Increasing the diameter of the membranes, which is directly associated with how much freshwater they can create, is one strategy to reduce energy use. Since membranes with a 16-inch diameter have four times the active area of those with an 8-inch diameter, they are becoming increasingly popular among businesses.
Roadblocks
According to Rawashdeh, many Middle Eastern countries face severe challenges in the water sector, including shortages, high losses (black and leakage), improper management of water resources and uses, a lack of clear water strategies, a lack of awareness about the importance of water conservation, and an ineffective or absent water governance vision.
In order to make the water system more sustainable, most governments in the Middle East now recognise the value of drinking water that has been purified from sewage. Because these nations value their wastewater so highly for irrigation, they have invested in better wastewater collection, treatment, and TSE distribution infrastructure.
Rawashdeh enjoys spending his free time reading, going for walks, and watching films.