SOME FACTS ABOUT POPULATION & GROUND WATER
Egypt
with the area of about one million square kilometers and population of some
60 million
increasing at a demographic annual growth rate of 2.5%, will have a minimum of about
129
million
population by the year 2030. The available renewable water per capita is forecasted to decrease from 1123 m3 in 1990 to 681 m3 in 2030. The demand is expected to grow from 55 billion cubic meters in 1985 to an estimated 75 billions by the year 2030.
The Sudan
has an area of 2.5 million square kilometers and a population of
26 million
with an annual demographic growth rate of about 3%. The population is expected to reach
55.5
million
by the year 2030.
Libya
(The Great Socialistic People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya) has an area of about 1.75 million square kilometers and a population of slightly less than
5 millions
increasing at an annual demographic growth rate of 4.1% in 1990-95. It is expected that Libya's population would reach
13.8
millions
by the year 2025. With the exception of the coastal strip where the average annual rainfall hardly exceeds 90 mm, the ground water remains the only reliable and perennial source of water in the country. Due to the demographic growth, the annual availability of water epr capita is expected to decrease from about 1017 m3 in 1990 to 377 m3 by the year 2025.
The United Nations specifies that the
1000 m3/yr/capita
rate is the "water scarcity" threshold.
Jordan
with the area of about 90,000 square kilometers and population of some
4 million
increasing at a demographic annual growth rate of 3.6%, will have a minimum of about
8
million
population by the year 2015. The available renewable water per capita is forecasted to decrease from about 3,000 m3 in 1946 to 180 m3 in 1996. The demand is expected to grow from 1000 million cubic meters in 1995 to an estimated 1400 millions by the year 2015 without any agricultural expansion. Jordan has very limited water resources. The country heavily depends on ground water. Development of limited ground water resources is not balanced with modern recharge from rainfall. Jordan pumps about 500 million cubic meters (MCM) each year from its wells.
Dubai (one of United Arab Emirates)
In 1995 the total water supply equal to about 30,000 million gallons per year came from sea water desalination (27.7 million gallons), while from ground water wells only about 2.1 million gallons were used. It appears that the water supply is about
92.3%
coming from sea water desalination. (Source: Dubai Electricity & Water Authority.)