Desalination and water resource management in Kuwait

In most and countries the scarcity of conventional fresh water supplies inf ers a serious threat to sustainable and balanced socio-economic growth and development. This threat is clearly more pronounced in the less developed c ountries. However, the mining of non-conventional seawater and wastewater r esources could provide an opportunity and a challenge to water supply susta inability. In Kuwait, the average rainfall is 110mm per year and the fresh water streams do not exist. The fresh water resources are limited to ground water, desalinated seawater, and treated wastewater effluents. The total co nventional fresh water resources available in Kuwait are 6 million m(3)/y w hile the total water demand has exceeded 350 million m(3)/y in the year 200 0. With the continued deterioration of existing groundwater resources, almo st 90% of the water demand is currently satisfied through seawater desalina tion plants. The history of desalination in Kuwait dates back to 1951 when the first distillation plant was commissioned. Currently the desalination c apacity is1.65 million m(3)/d of which 1.47 million m(3)/d is provided by m ulti-stage flash distillation (MSF) and 0.17 million m(3)/d is supplied by reverse osmosis (RO). On the other hand, tertiary treated wastewater efflue nts of about 0.4 million m(3)/d are produced by three major municipal waste water treatment plants. Such effluent is currently utilized in irrigation. This paper presents the water resources management plan in Kuwait and evalu ates the role of desalination and water reuse in meeting the increasing wat er demand. It also examines the recent trends in water supply and demand as well as the development in desalting plants inventory. Desalination requir ements in Kuwait will continue to grow. A dramatic decline in cost has made desalination a viable and economic solution to ensure future water supply in Kuwait and the region, while the growing environmental concern has led t o increased interest in water reuse.