In the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), the most water scarce region in the world, it is predicted that per capita water availability will fall by half by 2050. And scarcity is only one of the water-related challenges that MENA countries are currently facing--altered rainfall patterns due to climate change, shifting demand structures, and rising industrial and urban pollution all complicate efforts to efficiently manage water resources. However, a recent report by the World Bank argues that water scarcity need not constrain economic and social progress in the region if a multi-sectoral approach to water sector reform is adopted...
http://earthtrends.wri.org/updates/node/171Just take a look at the outlook for Yemen:
...The West frets that al Qaeda will exploit instability in Yemen to prepare new attacks like the failed December 25 bombing of a U.S. airliner, but this impoverished Arabian peninsula country faces a catastrophe that poses a far deadlier long-term threat.
Nature cannot recharge ground water to keep pace with demand from a population of 23 million expected to double in 20 years.
More water is consumed than produced from most of Yemen's 21 aquifers, especially in the highlands, home to big cities like Sanaa, with a fast-growing population of two million, and Taiz.
"If we continue like this, Sanaa will be a ghost city in 20 years," said Anwer Sahooly, a water expert at German development agency GTZ, which runs several water projects in Yemen.
Some wells in Sanaa are now 800 to 1,000 meters deep -- requiring oil-drilling equipment -- while many are no longer usable because of the sinking water table, he said.
Millions of thirsty Yemenis may eventually have to abandon Sanaa and other mountain cities for the coastal plain. "Water refugees" may try to migrate to nearby Gulf states or Europe...
http://www.reuters.com/article/2010/02/17/us-yemen-water-idUSTRE61G21P20100217