Short on fresh water, North Africa turns to desalination for water security

Low water levels reveal dry, crusty banks of the Nile River. As one of the longest rivers in the world is threatened by both overuse and climate change, so is the water security of the millions of people who rely on it for daily use in Sudan and Egypt.

As the host country of the COP27 climate conference, Egypt kept water security front and centre. Monday was "water day" at the summit, and desalination was a hot topic.

Desalination, an expensive and energy-intensive way of turning sea water into a potable source for use, is one of the cornerstones of the country's — and region's — response to water scarcity.

Egypt is angling to increase its desalination capacity, with the goal of quadrupling output by building 17 new desalination plants over the next five years. The entirety of the conference centre in Sharm el-Sheikh is run using water filtered using desalination technology.

Though, desalination technology is so energy intensive, experts warn in many cases its use could contribute further to climate change by way of increasing emissions. In 2016, for instance, desalination accounted for three per cent of the Middle East's water supply but five per cent of its total energy consumption, according to a report by the International Energy Agency.

However, Egypt's plans for desalination expansion are, to date, expected to run entirely on solar energy.

"Desalination is a very power-intensive process. Forty per cent of the cost is electricity," said Ayman Soliman, CEO of the Sovereign Fund of Egypt, a sovereign wealth fund established in 2018 by the Egyptian government to manage private investment in the country. 

"The genesis of the idea was: How do you control cost? It was a natural direction to move toward renewables because renewables have actually become so mainstream, have become so competitive, that renewables are now a more competitive cost source of energy for desalination."

Egypt is not the only North African nation moving toward desalination to secure its water supply. Morocco's Minister of Equipment and Water, Nizar Baraka, spoke Monday and said that by their estimates the country will lose a third of its water supply by 2050. 

"Morocco is fighting a very important hydrological stress. During these past five years, we had a severe drought episode. This year was the (worst) drought in more than 40 years," Baraka said. 

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Baraka explained that Morocco has used dams to control its water ways. They have more than 150 damns in use in the country to try and conserve water supply. "But it's not enough," he said. 

Some desalination is already at work in the coastal city of Casablanca, with six new stations slated to open in 2023, he said. By 2030, one billion cubic meters of water will be desalinated in Morocco, Baraka said.

"When you're dealing with water, it's a very sensitive commodity, it's an essential ingredient for life. It's not something you should have a price on," said Egypt's Soliman.