Jun 1, 2013
Inventory of Shared Water Resources in Western Asia
by
,
UN-ESCWA
Reports 10 key findings highlighting important region-specific observations drawn from an inventory of water resources in western Asia:
- There are more shared water resources in Western Asia than generally assumed.
- Water quantity and allocation dominate the discourse on shared water resources in this waterscarce region.
- Water quality is rapidly deteriorating, a fact that is largely neglected.
- The lack of accurate data hampers joint water resources management.
- Cooperation over shared water exists, but is never basin-wide.
- There is not a single agreement on shared groundwater resources in the region.
- The region’s groundwater is largely non-renewable and aquifers are rapidly being depleted.
- Groundwater plays an important role in surface water basins, a link which is often overlooked.
- A new thinking is required to deal with large regional aquifer systems from a shared perspective.
- It is already too late to save some shared waters.