Iranian girls play by a canal, likely built to funnel water from a river.
One of Asia's
most precious natural resources, fresh water is needed for drinking, for irrigating crops, and for keeping clean.
Not much water is available in the Middle East, where deserts cover much of the Earth, but the people there have learned to live with what they have.
Although oil-rich Saudi Arabia and Kuwait are on the Persian Gulf, no freshwater rivers flow through the countries and it rarely rains. These countries use desalination plants to "make" fresh water. Salt water from the Gulf is collected and turned into water vapor. When the vapor cools, it turns back into water—without the salt, which is put back into the Gulf. The desalination process works well, but it is very expensive and requires a lot of salt water to make a small amount of drinkable liquid.
Israel and other nations use water-treatment plants to "recycle" water. The water is cleaned with chemicals and then used to water crops.
In many countries, such as India, huge pipelines carry water to areas rich enough to afford it. In Mumbai's poor neighborhoods, residents share public spigots in alleyways. They have no running water in their homes.
A great deal of water is needed to irrigate land used to grow crops such as wheat and rice. In fact, 80 percent of all water in the Middle East is used for farming.
One method of watering crops is flooding irrigation. Human-made canals or pipelines carry water from rivers to fields, where it soaks the soil thoroughly. Though fairly inexpensive, flooding irrigation uses a lot of water.
Furrow irrigation uses less water. When water comes in by pipes or canals, it flows into small ditches called furrows down each row of plants. Once the furrows are filled with water, the supply is cut off.
Developed in Israel, drip irrigation is very expensive but very effective. A computer controls the amount of water that drips out of tiny holes cut into a hose, which is placed next to the plants. Each plant gets the exact amount of moisture it needs, and no water is wasted.
Diverting water from rivers and inland seas or damming rivers for reservoirs can lead to problems. These processes can turn a lake into desert, and otherwise change the landscape. They can also affect lifestyles—for instance, a village can be drowned when a dam is built.
