In the Middle East, 5% of the worlds population shares 0.9% of the worlds water resources. Increasingly affected by development and population growth, per capita water availability has become the world’s worst. Conflict zones have arisen across the region and ground water supplies across the Arabian Peninsula are being depleted faster then they are being replenished. This crisis will affect millions of lives across the Middle East. These are the stories of some of those living on the forefront of this transition.
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Watershed
The Fertile Well
The village of Misfat receives all of its drinking and agricultural water from a system known as a falaj, a complex network of channels and waterways that run from a central spring above the town known locally as the fertile well. As the whakeal, or caretaker of the falaj, Suleman al Abri is one of the most respected elders of the village. He is responsible for its maintenance and organizing the time-sharing program that allows each plot to receive its share of the water.
Half Full, Half Empty
Kibbutz Sde Boker, the desert home of David Ben-Gurion, lies in the center of the Negev Desert and requires water to be piped in from Tel Aviv and a sophisticated drip-irrigation system for its crops to flourish. By contrast, the Palestinian town of Jiflic sits on one of the regions largest underground water supplies yet has no means of utilizing this precious resource.
A Flooded Future
Time is running out for Hasankeyf, one for the oldest and most important cites of the Kurdish people in Turkey. When construction on the Illisu dam is complete, water from the Tigress River will flood the ancient city and its networks of caves carved into the cliffside. For now, it remains a popular destination for Turkish tourists.
