Desalination and water resource management in Kuwait

In most arid countries the scarcity of conventional fresh water supplies infers a serious threat to sustainable and balanced socio-economic growth and development. This threat is clearly more pronounced in the less developed countries. However, the mining of non-conventional seawater and wastewater resources could provide an opportunity and a challenge to water supply sustainability. In Kuwait, the average rainfall is 110 mm per year and the fresh water streams do not exist. The fresh water resources are limited to groundwater, desalinated seawater, and treated wastewater effluents. The total conventional fresh water resources available in Kuwait are 6 million m³/y while the total water demand has exceeded 350 million m³/y in the year 2000. With the continued deterioration of existing groundwater resources, almost 90% of the water demand is currently satisfied through seawater desalination plants. The history of desalination in Kuwait dates back to 1951 when the first distillation plant was commissioned. Currently the desalination capacity is1.65 million m³/d of which 1.47 million m³/d is provided by multi-stage flash distillation (MSF) and 0.17 million m³/d is supplied by reverse osmosis (RO). On the other hand, tertiary treated wastewater effluents of about 0.4 million m³/d are produced by three major municipal wastewater treatment plants. Such effluent is currently utilized in irrigation. This paper presents the water resources management plan in Kuwait and evaluates the role of desalination and water reuse in meeting the increasing water demand. It also examines the recent trends in water supply and demand as well as the development in desalting plants inventory. Desalination requirements 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 to increased interest in water reuse.

Seawater and brackish groundwater are considered as alternative water resources in Kuwait. Almost 90% of the fresh water demand is currently satisfied by seawater desalination using the MSF distillation process. With the advances in the RO technology and the declined capital and O&M costs of this process, brackish groundwater may become a competitive potential water resource to compensate for potable water demand in the country. Considering the increased water source and the positive impact on the environment, complete wastewater reuse will become competitive in the future due to increasingly demanding environmental policy, changes in public attitudes, growing quantities of wastewater generated, and the advancement of water technologies. A variety of water management scenarios are considered which include: (1) desalination of seawater and brackish groundwater desalination to satisfy potable water demand, (2) wastewater reclamation and reuse for agricultural and landscape irrigation as well as domestic non-potable applications, and (3) brackish groundwater for non-potable water supply. A proactive approach has to be developed to ensure the sustainable management of all resources, recognising that water is a precious, finite and irreplaceable resource. Efforts must be made to develop efficient and comprehensive planning tools to which integrated water management models should be a great asset.