Sanaa Could Run Out of Water in 15 Years

The Sanaa water basin could dry up within 15 years due to excessive irrigation in, a World Bank expert has warned. Water resources management specialist Yoshi Kobayashi called on the government and the public to come together to stop drilling in the area during his latest visit to the capital. He said the solution of supplying the capital with water through desalination was costly, with the price of one cubic liter costing as much as US$8. "The only effective solution is by rationalizing the usage of water through irrigation systems such as dripping and building dams," he said. According to a recent study from the General Authority for Water Resources, (GAWR), the problem lies in the over-consumption of ground water by 280 Mcm/y. Over 80% of consumed water goes toward irrigating 24,000 hectares of land.

Water use per capita in Yemen is currently at 150 cubic meters/y, but is expected to rise sharply according to experts. In 2009, the GAWR discovered 494 illegal water wells throughout the country, the majority of them in the capital. Earlier this month, the minister for planning and international cooperation, Abdul Karim Al-Arhabi, launched a US$340m program for developing the water sector in Yemen. The program is funded by the World Bank, Germany and Holland and will last for five years. However, the prospects of water scarcity are not so bleak in certain areas of the country, particularly Hadramout.Hisham Al-Hendi, a geologist and a consultant at the Yemeni Ministry of Oil, told Arab News that Hadramout would never need to resort to desalination since it has a huge pool of groundwater to tap into.

"We have recently discovered a huge stock of groundwater near the city of Mukalla, which will provide the city with clean water for the next three decades, even if the area experienced a drought. We have found it only in a small area of Hadramout. I'm quite certain that there are a lot of similar wells that remained undiscovered." He regarded the option of transporting water from Hadramout's capital as "improbable" due to its high cost. - Zawya