{"id":68518,"date":"2026-03-10T20:32:32","date_gmt":"2026-03-10T15:02:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/?p=68518"},"modified":"2026-03-10T20:33:56","modified_gmt":"2026-03-10T15:03:56","slug":"desalination-plants-west-asia-war","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/current-affairs\/10-03-2026\/desalination-plants-west-asia-war","title":{"rendered":"Desalination Plants have become the Latest Focal Point in West Asia war"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>Syllabus: GS2\/IR<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Context<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>As the conflict in West Asia enters the 10th day, the military strikes by both <strong>sides have found a new target: desalination plants.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>What are desalination plants?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Desalination plants<strong> convert seawater into fresh drinking water<\/strong> by removing salt and other minerals.\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The most widely used method is a process called <strong>Reverse osmosis,<\/strong> which pushes seawater through<strong> ultra-fine membranes<\/strong> that filter out salt.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The freshwater produced is used to supply households, industry, hotels and some agriculture across the region.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Why are they so important to the Gulf?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Many Gulf countries depend heavily on desalinated water because they lack natural freshwater resources such as rivers or large lakes.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>According to the IFRI report, desalination plants in the UAE supply 42% of the country\u2019s drinking water needs.\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Such plants meet 90% of Kuwait\u2019s needs, 86% of Oman\u2019s, and 70% of Saudi Arabia\u2019s.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The report also anticipated that desalination capacity in West Asia would almost double by 2030.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Challenges\/Risks with Desalination Plants<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Disabling of Desalination Plants:<\/strong> Experts say major cities could lose most of their drinking water within days if key desalination plants were disabled.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>A 2010 analysis by the Central Intelligence Agency warned that attacks on desalination facilities could trigger national crises in several Gulf states.\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>More than 90% of the region\u2019s desalinated water comes from just 56 plants, making them highly vulnerable to sabotage or military action.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Climate Change:<\/strong> Beyond war, climate change is also increasing risks to desalination infrastructure.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Rising ocean temperatures and stronger cyclones in the Arabian Sea could threaten coastal facilities, while storm surges and extreme rainfall could damage plants or overwhelm drainage systems.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Emissions and Pollution: <\/strong>Desalination is also energy-intensive, with plants worldwide producing between 500 million and 850 million tonnes of carbon emissions each year.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The process also produces highly concentrated brine, which is often discharged back into the ocean and can harm marine ecosystems such as coral reefs.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group has-background\" style=\"background-color:#fff2cc\"><div class=\"wp-block-group__inner-container is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\">\n<p><strong>Do you Know?<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>International humanitarian law,<\/strong> including the <strong>Geneva Conventions,<\/strong> prohibits the targeting of civilian infrastructure indispensable for survival. This includes drinking water facilities.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>During the 1990-91 Gulf war,<\/strong> retreating Iraqi forces sabotaged Kuwaiti desalination facilities. They also released millions of barrels of oil into the sea.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>This massive slick threatened water intakes across the entire region. Kuwait was left largely without fresh water and required years to recover.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Source: IE<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p><strong> Context <\/strong><\/p>\n<li class=\"ms-5\"> As the conflict in West Asia enters the 10th day, the military strikes by both sides have found a new target: desalination plants. <\/li>\n<p><\/p>\n<p><strong> What are desalination plants? <\/strong><\/p>\n<li class=\"ms-5\"> Desalination plants convert seawater into fresh drinking water by removing salt and other minerals.\u00a0 <\/li>\n<li class=\"ms-5\"> The most widely used method is a process called Reverse osmosis, which pushes seawater through ultra-fine membranes that filter out salt. <\/li>\n<li class=\"ms-5\"> The freshwater produced is used to supply households, industry, hotels and some agriculture across the region. <\/li>\n<p><a href=\" https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/current-affairs\/10-03-2026\/desalination-plants-west-asia-war \" class=\"btn btn-primary btn-sm float-end\">Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-68518","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-current-affairs"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68518","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=68518"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68518\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":68522,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68518\/revisions\/68522"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=68518"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=68518"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=68518"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}