Short on fresh water, North Africa turns to desalination for water security
But the technology is expensive, energy-intensive and brine disposal is an issue
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.
But desalination technology is so energy intensive that 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."
'Not something you should have a price on'
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.
WATCH | Rising temperature targets cause concern at COP27:
Baraka explained that Morocco has used dams to control its waterways. They have more than 150 dams 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.
The trouble is that water as a necessity does not avail itself well to private investment because it is undervalued, Soliman explained, especially because of how critical it is to survival.
"Water has a cost but not a price," he said.
Desalination gaining traction worldwide
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) has been among the institutions helping to foot the bill for desalination projects. Part of the established regulations for the projects to be approved is that they use renewable energy, according to Sue Barrett, the bank's head of infrastructure for Turkey, Middle East and Africa.
Egypt's expansion plan also hinges on the sovereign wealth fund subsidizing private companies' construction. The estimated capital cost of desalinating water is about $1,000 US per cubic meter, and Reuters previously reported the fund plans to lower that price by 20 to 25 per cent.
This has sweetened the deal to attract investors, Soliman said, with the open tenders attracting a great deal of attention. Soliman said Monday that the country is also looking for investors in green hydrogen projects, and those investments will be required to come along with enough desalination capacity to be self-sustaining.
African nations are far from the only countries looking at desalination technology to address climate adaptation.
California rejected a $1.4 billion project in May, only to change tact and approve a smaller project last month while the American state is in the midst of a historic drought. Saudi Arabia and Israel also rely heavily on desalination and have invested heavily in the technology over the last decade.
But as desalination becomes more popular, brine disposal will become an environmental issue of its own, as well as considerations for how it disrupts marine life. One study found that enough salt brine was currently discharged to cover the state of Florida with 30 centimetres of brine annually. It can either be returned to the sea, put underground, or spread on land.
The United Nations Environment Program warns that for every litre of potable water produced via desalination, 1.5 times that amount of water is polluted with chlorine and copper because of the discharge.
"While shifting toward low-carbon energy sources to power desalination plants can help reduce carbon dioxide emissions, the discharge of toxic brine from desalination plants into the ocean is a more challenging problem," the agency notes.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
With files from Reuters
