South Asia’s Water Crisis. How to generate water required for South Asia ?

[tipirneni]

Does water crisis lead to Indus Valley like civilization collapse & people migrating out ?

"Water security and water scarcity are completely different things," said Ray. "South Asia is water insecure in many ways, but it is not because of some actual, physical scarcity, per se. There are, of course, arid regions within some South Asian countries, but overall the region is not physically short of water resources. Therefore, we have to look at water security and insecurity in South Asia primarily as a resource management and governance problem."

"South Asia is water insecure in many ways, but it is not because of some actual, physical scarcity, per se. Therefore, we have to look at water security and insecurity in South Asia primarily as a resource management and governance problem." from Isha Ray

Adeel added that South Asia is "one of the most water insecure regions of the world, in terms of both water availability and the impact it has on the health and well-being of its people."

Enormous inequality in South Asia drives the lack of access to water, said Ray, as well as sanitation injustice in the region. That inequality is a result of asymmetric power both among the countries in the region as well as within each of those countries.

https://www.pacificcouncil.org/newsroom/conflict-and-climate-exacerbate-south-asia%E2%80%99s-water-crisis

https://wriorg.s3.amazonaws.com/s3fs-public/styles/large/public/plants_without_water.jpg?itok=_6-pnrgL

[The Lawspeaker]

Desalinization ?

[tipirneni]

The global demand for freshwater is soaring as supply is becoming more uncertain. Today, one out of six people—more than a billion—do not have adequate access to safe water. The United Nations projects that by 2025, half of the countries worldwide will face water stress or outright shortages. By 2050, as many as three out of four people around the globe could be affected by water scarcity.

Water-related problems are particularly acute in Asia. Although Asia is home to more than half of the world’s population, it has less freshwater—3,920 cubic meters per person per year—than any continent other than Antarctica. Almost two-thirds of global population growth is occurring in Asia, where the population is expected to increase by nearly 500 million people within the next 10 years. Asia’s rural population will remain almost the same between now and 2025, but the urban population is likely to increase by a staggering 60%.

As population growth and urbanization rates in Asia rise rapidly, stress on the region’s water resources is intensifying. Climate change is expected to worsen the situation significantly. Experts agree that reduced access to freshwater will lead to a cascading set of consequences, including impaired food production, the loss of livelihood security, large-scale migration within and across borders, and increased economic and geopolitical tensions and instabilities. Over time, these effects will have a profound impact on security throughout the region.

https://asiasociety.org/asias-next-challenge-securing-regions-water-future-0


Urbanisation, climate change and a rapidly increasing population have placed significant pressure on water resources in South Asia, a region already experiencing acute water scarcity. Climate change and extreme weather events are expected to create millions of “environmental migrants” by 2050. In areas such as Bangladesh where sea level rise is expected to inundate large areas of land, mass migration is inevitable. In other areas, water scarcity alone will not trigger migration. Other factors, including political stability, water sharing agreements, domestic and transboundary water management and socio-economic position, will determine whether people choose to migrate. Basin-wide and domestic water management is therefore vital in easing political tensions and ensuring water resources are managed and distributed fairly.

http://www.futuredirections.org.au/publication/water-scarcity-migration-regional-security-south-asia/

[tipirneni]

Desalinization ?

Major desalination plants opened in Israel, California, Australia etc...

https://www.technologyreview.com/s/534996/megascale-desalination/

The new plant in Israel, called Sorek, was finished in late 2013 but is just now ramping up to its full capacity; it will produce 627,000 cubic meters of water daily, providing evidence that such large desalination facilities are practical. Indeed, desalinated seawater is now a mainstay of the Israeli water supply. Whereas in 2004 the country relied entirely on groundwater and rain, it now has four seawater desalination plants running; Sorek is the largest. Those plants account for 40 percent of Israel’s water supply. By 2016, when additional plants will be running, some 50 percent of the country’s water is expected to come from desalination.


As of May 2016, there are nine active proposals for seawater desalination plants along the California coast, as well as two additional proposed plants in Baja California, Mexico that would provide water to southern California communities. This is down from an estimated 21 proposed projects in 2006 and 19 in 2012. Since 2006, only two projects have been built: a small plant in Sand City with a capacity of 300,000 gallons of water per day and a much larger 50-million-gallon per day plant in Carlsbad.
http://pacinst.org/publication/key-issues-in-seawater-desalination-proposed-facilities/

[The Lawspeaker]

Major desalination plants opened in Israel, California, Australia etc...

https://www.technologyreview.com/s/534996/megascale-desalination/

The new plant in Israel, called Sorek, was finished in late 2013 but is just now ramping up to its full capacity; it will produce 627,000 cubic meters of water daily, providing evidence that such large desalination facilities are practical. Indeed, desalinated seawater is now a mainstay of the Israeli water supply. Whereas in 2004 the country relied entirely on groundwater and rain, it now has four seawater desalination plants running; Sorek is the largest. Those plants account for 40 percent of Israel’s water supply. By 2016, when additional plants will be running, some 50 percent of the country’s water is expected to come from desalination.


As of May 2016, there are nine active proposals for seawater desalination plants along the California coast, as well as two additional proposed plants in Baja California, Mexico that would provide water to southern California communities. This is down from an estimated 21 proposed projects in 2006 and 19 in 2012. Since 2006, only two projects have been built: a small plant in Sand City with a capacity of 300,000 gallons of water per day and a much larger 50-million-gallon per day plant in Carlsbad.
http://pacinst.org/publication/key-issues-in-seawater-desalination-proposed-facilities/

But would the same work in India ? I recognise that it's very expensive but it's not like they have any real options.

[Catarinense1998]

Thanks god Brazil will never worry about water.

[tipirneni]

But would the same work in India ? I recognise that it's very expensive but it's not like they have any real options.

True. there are some small plants in India. Number of foreign collaboration & IIT research setup some of these
Israel Desalination Enterprises (IDE) Technologies
Japanese companies, Water Treatment Systems of Toray Industries Inc. & Dotcome
already providing some easy to setup plants. There is also major push to use Solar energy to provide low cost water desalination.

[The Lawspeaker]

True. there are some small plants in India. Number of foreign collaboration & IIT research setup some of these
Israel Desalination Enterprises (IDE) Technologies
Japanese companies, Water Treatment Systems of Toray Industries Inc. & Dotcome
already providing some easy to setup plants. There is also major push to use Solar energy to provide low cost water desalination.

If the problem becomes as big as the map indicates, then they really should think bigger. Much bigger.

[tipirneni]

If the problem becomes as big as the map indicates, then they really should think bigger. Much bigger.

Mega Desalination Plants like Ras Al Khair bills run into 100s of Billion Dollars. Only oil rich countries in Gulf can afford those costs. For the South Asia the future lies more in free Solar or Wind based solutions for desalinations.

The Ras Al Khair plant is owned by Saudi's state-owned Saline Water Conversion Corporation (SWCC) which had appointed Pöyry as engineer responsible for project management, design review and site supervision.

The plant has been expanded recently to add 240 Ml/d to its output under a SR 300 billion (US$ 80 billion) investment plan running for the next ten years to increase SWCC's production of desalinated water by more than 44 per cent to 5,200 Ml/d in less than two years and on to 8,500 Ml/d by 2025.

The Ras Al Khair plant - the largest combined power and desalination facility in the world - includes multi stage flash and seawater reverse osmosis desalination and deploys the largest membrane plant in the Gilf of Oman. It also uses dissolved air flotation pre- treatment in converting more than 1 billion litres of seawater into potable water each day

[The Lawspeaker]

Mega Desalination Plants like Ras Al Khair bills run into 100s of Billion Dollars. Only oil rich countries in Gulf can afford those costs. For the South Asia the future lies more in free Solar or Wind based solutions for desalinations.

The Ras Al Khair plant is owned by Saudi's state-owned Saline Water Conversion Corporation (SWCC) which had appointed Pöyry as engineer responsible for project management, design review and site supervision.

The plant has been expanded recently to add 240 Ml/d to its output under a SR 300 billion (US$ 80 billion) investment plan running for the next ten years to increase SWCC's production of desalinated water by more than 44 per cent to 5,200 Ml/d in less than two years and on to 8,500 Ml/d by 2025.

The Ras Al Khair plant - the largest combined power and desalination facility in the world - includes multi stage flash and seawater reverse osmosis desalination and deploys the largest membrane plant in the Gilf of Oman. It also uses dissolved air flotation pre- treatment in converting more than 1 billion litres of seawater into potable water each day
So to make a long story very short: India is going to have one hell of a problem.

[tipirneni]

So to make a long story very short: India is going to have one hell of a problem.

Yeah. True