| In Iran -- and perhaps Saudi Arabia -- they're running out of oil. In Yemen it's water. It's starting to look like Allah doesn't like these people. |
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In his meeting focusing on economic journalism with trainees of the Studies and Economic Media Center, Hassan made it clear that according to the scientific studies and the facts currently available, Sana'a would run out of water by 2025.
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"Our goal is to lengthen the basin's durability, but ultimately the disaster is coming", said Hassan, specifying that the annual volume of water from rainfall amounts to 80 million square meters, compared to the 200 million square meters that are needed to sustain the Sana'a basin.
Experts such as Mohammed al-Dubaei, a professor of geology, say there is a need to halve Sana'a city's two million population in order to confront the water crisis in the city. "Sana'a city cannot stand rapid urbanization," he said. Water availability in Yemen has been worsening by the year and the government has no clear strategy on how to deal with the problem.
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They say water shortages, which affect about 80 percent of the country's 21 million people, are exacerbated by the high fertility rate, rapid urbanization, the cultivation of 'qat' (a mild narcotic), a lack of public awareness, and the arbitrary digging of wells.
These remarks have been repeated since the symposium of August 2008 organized by the Sheba Centre for Strategic Studies (SCSS) and a local think-tank entitled 'Water Security in Yemen'. The symposium brought together dozens of local officials and experts on water. Â
According to the latest official statistics, the total amount of water used annually is 3.5 billion cubic metres (cu.m.), of which 93% is used in agriculture, 6% in households and 1% by industry. The renewed fresh water is 2.5 billion cu.m. per year. The gap between used water and renewed fresh water is 1 billion cu.m. a year. The additional problem of a predicted doubling in Yemen's population by 2025 means that 4.6 billion cu.m. would be required to sustain the country.
Water use per capita in Yemen is currently at 125 cu.m. per year, but expected to drop to 62.5 cu.m a year by 2025. Globally, average water consumption per capita is 1,500 cu.m. per year. About 92 % of Yemen's land is arid, semi-arid and desert.Â
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Nasser al-Awlaqi, a professor of economy and a former minister of water, said the water crisis in Yemen was largely due to agriculture, which depended on ground water from deep wells.
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Rapidly depleting water resources have forced many residents of Sana'a to buy water from private sources. He said farmers used to make do with surface water and rain, not ground water, but with the introduction of appropriate technology, they began to dig wells. "Before 1970, there were no wells 800 meters deep. They were manually dug and their depth was only 20-40 meters.
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According to the Ministry of Water and Environment there are over 60,000 wells and over 350 water drillers nationwide, and the rate of water level-diminution in these wells was 6.3 percent per year.Â
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Al-Awlaqi confirmed that arbitrary digging of wells meant water could be found at depths of 800 - 1,000 meters. "Influential figures are digging wells in Sana'a city, with the Ministry of Water unable to do anything to stop them. The 'Water Law' is not being implemented."Â
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The above mentioned law forbids arbitrary digging and requires prior permission from the ministry. "In 1974, the area irrigated by ground water was 30,000 - 35,000 hectares. But now over 400,000 hectares are irrigated by ground water. At that time, Yemen produced 1.2 million tones of cereals but now production has dropped sharply as agriculture is not fed by rainfall," claimed al-Awlaqi.
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Experts say that farmers are not able to make use of the large quantity of rainwater - 68 billion cu.m. a year - due to the ineffectiveness of dams. The dams were built arbitrarily and as a result are not practical. Very few were built adequately. Dams are not looked after and most of them have been filled with filth. Over US$22 billion has so far been spent on dams, but their capacity is only 80 million cubic meters (mcm). Yemen is a poor country but its resources are wasted.Â
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The Ministry of Water and Environment said that the option of desalination in Sana'a was impossible as Yemen's resources were limited and even talk about this alternative was not logical. "How do we want to benefit from desalinating sea water when it will immediately be used to irrigate qat?," one of their ministers said.