An environmental issue or economic /security problem Desalination, which creates fresh water from salt-water sources, has truly come of age in the last decade. According to the International Desalination Association (IDA), desalination is used in more than 100 countries, with more than half the freshwater output used in the Middle East and Northern Africa. Saudi Arabia tops the list, using close to 25 percent of worldwide desalination output produced in its more than 2,000 plants. By comparison, the United States, ranked second worldwide in desalination use, produces about 16 percent of the total output.

The water problem in the region is not only an environmental issue; it is also an economic and security problem. The governments need to act right now in order to secure water needs in short, medium and long term for different sectors by using different policy options, technology techniques, or even political pressure and deals that can secure water supplies from allying countries,

Since desalination plants are capital intensive, have a relatively short life expectancy along with high maintenance costs and damage the coastal ecosystem, governments in the region are exploring more cost effective and long serving solutions to meet growing water demand.

Such scenarios reflect the growing problem of water shortage in the Persian Gulf region, presenting a significant challenge to the people and the governments. Scanty rainfall together with high rates of evaporation and consumption have led to deficits in "water budgets". Population growth, rapid urbanization and wasteful consumption patterns have added to the pressure.

Statistics reveal that the six Persian Gulf Cooperation Council (PGCC) countries have an urbanization level of about 85 percent. As a result, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), for example, is the world's second largest consumer of water per capita after the United States. Its average daily domestic consumption is 353 liters (80 gallons) per person compared to 425 liters in the U.S.

Energy and desalination are major concerns in the Middle East and Persian gulf countries Because of the heat and humidity of the summer months, power plants are built to meet a high demand. "You can't shut those energy plants down in the winter months, when demand is low, so energy is being wasted. One of the points is 'Why throw away this energy? Why not use it to desalinate more water and store it?'" This can be and is done. Thermal desalination plants, which use heat, evaporation and condensation to collect freshwater, are often built in conjunction with power plants so the "waste" heat from the power plant runs the desalination plant.

The Persian Gulf meets an estimated 60 percent of its drinking water needs through desalination. Perth in Australia is looking to cover one-third of its freshwater demand through desalination.

Another crucial issue to be covered is secure water storage. "There is essentially very little ground water in all these Persian gulf countries, so one of the things we've been stressing to the people of the region is that they have very little water reserve. In addition, since the governments usually subsidizes the cost of water, there is little incentive to conserve(for example IRAN) This leaves the area vulnerable to crisis should something happen, either in Iran (natural disasters) or as a result of conflict, as was the case in southern Iraq, "to contaminate or destroy desalination plants".

Another area of concern in desalination is what happens to all the salt. Environmentalists have raised concerns over the waste product, known as brine, created by the process. Brine consists of mostly water and salts, along with some chemical byproducts that are "filtered" out in the desalination process. When desalination is used inland, solutions include dilution of the brine to minimize its ecological impact before putting it back into a river or sea, injecting it into underground aquifers, evaporating it to make rock salt and building pipelines to carry it to the sea. In the Persian gulf, all that salt goes back into the sea. They do consider the environmental effects, and they do a lot to try to minimize any effects on ecosystems.

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