1.1.1.WATER RESOURCES The prevailing hyper-arid climate of Kuwait is not favourable to the existence of any river systems in the country. There are no permanent rivers or lakes, but small wadis develop in the shallow depressions in the desert terrain. Surface runoff sometimes occurs in the large wadi depressions during the rainy season. Flash floods are reported to last from only a few hours to several days. Due to the extremely high evaporation losses and the high deficit in soil moisture, only a small percentage of the precipitation infiltrates into the groundwater supply. Internal renewable groundwater sources are negligible. Groundwater inflow has been estimated at about 20 million m3/year through lateral underflow from Saudi Arabia. Thick geological sequences are of sedimentary origin from the Palaeocene to Recent, in two groups known as Hasa and Kuwait. The Hasa group, which consists of limestone, dolomite, anhydrite and clays, comprises three formation units, known as Umm er Radhuma in the Palaeocene to the Middle Eocene, Rus in the Lower Eocene, and Damman in the Middle Eocene. The Kuwait group, which consists of fluvial sediments of sand and gravel, calcareous sand and sandstone with some clays, gypsums, limestone, and marls, comprises three formation units, known as Ghar in the Miocene, Fars in the Pliocene, and Dibdibba in the Pleistocene (UNU, 1995). Groundwater can be divided into the following three categories according to its salt content (Public Authority of Agriculture Affairs and Fish Resources, 2006): -Fresh groundwater: its content of soluble salt is less than 1,000mg/l and such water is not used for agriculture but is considered as a strategic freshwater reservoir for drinking water purposes. It is mostly available in the two fields of Rawdatian and Umm Al Eish. These freshwater lenses are formed due to a combination of unique conditions that include high intensity rainfall of short duration, and a geomorphology and lithology that enable rapid infiltration to the underlying groundwater. From historical pumping and water quality variation data acquired between 1963 and 1977, the sustainable extraction rate for Rawdatain and Umm Al Eish, which would avoid the upcoming of deeper saline water, is estimated to be 5,500 and 3,500m3/day respectively (Kwarteng et al, 2000). -Brackish groundwater: its soluble salt content is from 1,000 to 7,000mg/l and is used for agricultural and domestic purposes and as drinking water for cattle. This water is produced from the Al Shaya, Al Qadeer, Al Solaybeia, Al Wafra and Al Abdali fields. The production capacity of these fields is around 545,000m3/day. -Saline groundwater: the soluble salt content in this water is between 7,000 to 20,000mg/l and it is therefore not appropriate for agricultural or domestic use. In general groundwater quality and quantity are deteriorating due to the continuous pumping of water. In Al Wafra in the south, 50 per cent of the wells pumped water with a salinity level higher than 7,500ppm in 1989, reaching 75 per cent and 85 per cent in the years 1997 and 2002 respectively. In Al Abdali in the north, these figures were estimated at 55, 75 and 90 per cent respectively. The first plant for desalinating sea water was established at Al Ahmadi port in 1951, with a capacity of 364m3/day. The production capacity increased over the years until it reached 1.1 million m3/day, while maximum consumption reached 0.9 million m3/day in the summer of 1995 (PAAFR, 2006). In 2002 the annual quantity of desalinated water produced was 420 million m3 (FAO, 2005). The problem with seawater distillation is the high cost of the multi-stage flash (MSF) evaporation process. The cost of the thermal process is largely dependent on the rate of energy (fuel) consumption for operating the system, which can account for as much as about 50 per cent of the water unit cost, thus being sensitive to the unstable world market price of crude oil (UNU, 1995). Over 90 per cent of the population is connected to a central sewerage system. This offers an important potential for treated wastewater reuse that can contribute to alleviating the water shortage problem. However, various conditions affect the quality and quantity of sanitary sewage from the time it enters the local collector sewers until it is converted to sludge and treated sewage effluent at the sewage treatment plants. Qualitative and quantitative monitoring of the system and of the effluent from the time it leaves treatment plants to the end use for irrigation is essential to prevent the potential hazards associated with wastewater reuse. The sewerage system consists of an assemblage network that is based on gravity and which collects wastewater and transfers it to 60 pump stations (17 main and 43 secondary) from which it is pumped into pipelines all the way to wastewater treatment plants (WWTP) where it is treated. The total length of pipelines is 650km. The sewerage system collects over 90 per cent of the raw domestic and some industrial wastewater (220 million m3/yr), in addition to part of the storm water runoff in the residential areas which are connected to the sewerage system. Wastewater treatment has two main purposes: i) to protect public health and the environment; ii) to use treated wastewater for irrigation to compensate for the water deficit. In 2002 the wastewater treated represented 152 million m3 of which 78 million m3 was reused, which means an increase of 48 and 50 per cent respectively compared to 1994. In 2005 the total amount of treated sewage water was estimated at 250 million m3/year (FAO, 2005).

1.1.2.WATER USE In 2002 the total water withdrawal was around 913 million m3, compared to 538 million m3 in 1993. The per capita water consumption in Kuwait is high. 54 per cent of the water withdrawn was used for agriculture, 44 per cent for municipal purposes and 2 per cent for industrial purposes. Of Country Overview - Kuwait the 492 million m3 withdrawn for agriculture, 80 per cent was used for productive agriculture, 9 per cent for landscape greening and 11 per cent for garden watering (but it also includes some non-drinking uses at household level). Of the water withdrawn for productive agriculture, 300 million m3 is brackish water from private farms’ boreholes at Al Abdali and Al Wafra (based on 12 hours operation and 270 days/year with an average discharge of 40m3/h per well). 66 million m3 are treated wastewater effluent (50 per cent tertiary treatment and 50 per cent more advanced treatment). Fresh primary groundwater withdrawal amounts to 255 million m3/year, leading to an extraction of more than 12 times the annual groundwater inflow (20 million m3). Farmers are only allowed to withdraw water from the Kuwait group aquifer and there were about 1,767 wells in 1994. The water used for livestock purposes is pumped by the Ministry of Electricity and Water (MEW) from the Damman group aquifer through deep artesian wells. Continued heavy extraction was estimated to have led to a decline in the groundwater level of 200m by the year 2000. Overdrafting of brackish groundwater over the past decades has led to high drawdown and at times even depletion as well as increased salinity levels. Its use for agriculture is limited to plant species that tolerate high salinity levels. As an example, in 1985 crop irrigation was being carried out by pumping 53-67 million m3 of brackish groundwater per year from the well fields in Al Wafra and Abdali-Um Nigga. Desalinated seawater is currently used for all purposes, although the largest share is allocated to the drinking supply. Treated wastewater effluent is usually a mix of tertiary and more advanced treatment of wastewater. Tertiary treated sewage water is mainly used for the irrigation of fodder crops and date palms and also for landscaping. During the period 1925-1950, Kuwait imported freshwater from the Shatt al-Arab in Iraq, some 100km northwest from Kuwait, to supplement the water obtained from wells. Further exploitation of water resources was initiated by the rapid development of the oil industry and commerce in the 1950s, when shortage problems became a constraint to economic development (UNU, 1995).

1.2.WATER QUALITY, ECOSYSTEMS AND HUMAN HEALTH The only natural freshwater resource of Kuwait occurs as lenses floating on the saline groundwater in the northern part of the country near to the oil fields. Rainwater is the only means of recharging this limited groundwater resource. This groundwater is used as bottled drinking water and the fresh groundwater aquifer is considered as a strategic drinking water reserve for Kuwait. As a result of the 1991 Gulf War, the upper soil layer was contaminated by crude oil and crude oil combustion products, which are potential pollutants likely to affect the groundwater resources (Literathy et al, 2003). In Kuwait, as in other countries of the world, the main concerns in water recycling and reuse are: (a) reliable treatment of wastewater to meet strict water quality requirements for the intended reuse; (b) protection of public health; and (c) gaining public acceptance. In the case of reusing recycled water for irrigation of vegetables and other crops that are consumed uncooked or for green residential spaces with high public contact and for groundwater recharge, several public health concerns are encountered. While potable reuse of treated wastewater is still a distant possibility, groundwater recharge with advanced wastewater treatment technologies is a viable option. However, in Kuwait, as well as in other countries in the region, a lack of experimental data on groundwater recharge from local research means that efforts should be focused in that direction (Angelakis et al, 2005).

(Water Risk Filter)