Severe water stress…dangerous repercussions in southern Libya

Tripoli / Anadolu Agency

• The southern regions of the country suffer from severe water stress due to excessive consumption and the cultivation of water-depleting crops, especially in light of the lack of replenishment of groundwater reserves.
• An activist and a government official call for ending free water, growing crops that consume less water, modernizing irrigation methods, and expanding seawater desalination and wastewater treatment.
  Countries suffering from water stress face the risk of groundwater depletion, including Libya, which was classified by the World Resources Institute, last August, among 25 countries currently exposed to very high water stress.

In the Arab world, Libya ranks first in water consumption rates, at about “2,392 liters per person per day,” according to a statement by the United Nations Mission in Libya last September.

The mission added that the amount of water consumed is estimated at three times the average per capita consumption in the Arab world, and that water waste in Libya constitutes one of the worrying manifestations of unsustainable consumption, calling for the adoption of sustainable consumption and production patterns to save water.

Recently, the Fezzan region (south), which is Libya’s food basket, has become one of the regions facing the risk of groundwater depletion due to water stress and excessive withdrawal of this water, which is mostly used in agriculture, and is a source of income for many residents.

In light of the scarcity of rain and farmers’ reliance on traditional methods that deplete groundwater, environmental experts and activists issued warnings of continued water stress and its risks to the population.

** Direct damage
Yasmine Al-Ahmar, an environmental activist in the “Likaw” organization (a local non-governmental organization), said, “Water stress has direct harm to the citizen, including a significant drop in the level of groundwater, which forces them to dig deep wells and use large pumps to obtain water. “This increases the cost of extracting water, as well as lowering its quality.”

Al-Ahmar continued to Anadolu Agency, saying, “The significant depletion of groundwater may lead to environmental problems, such as landslides due to pumping. Water stress is the result of the unplanned depletion of groundwater resources, most of which are non-renewable, especially in the southern regions where there is almost no rain.”

She warned that “water stress is a danger that threatens to deplete groundwater, as evidenced by reports from international organizations, such as the FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations).”

These reports “confirm that Libya is at the forefront of countries suffering from water stress, which can be defined as the ratio of water consumed to the ratio of renewable water, and Libya is one of the countries that lack renewable water,” according to Al-Ahmar.

She said, “It is known that southern Libya is blessed with an abundance of high-quality groundwater, but it is not renewable, and it is encouraged to use it for agricultural purposes to provide food and fodder, but this exploitation must be carefully studied so that we are not surprised by the depletion of the stock.”

** Possible options
Regarding alternatives, Al-Ahmar called for “staying away from growing crops that need a lot of water, and growing other crops that do not need large amounts of water, such as palm trees, as well as using modern irrigation techniques such as distillation.”

She continued: “Attention is paid to desalinating seawater in coastal areas to reduce dependence on water that is transported from the south through the ‘(artificial) river system’ to the cities and regions of the north.”

Al-Ahmar added, “With the scarcity of rainwater, the state has worked on solutions, including building dams, but the establishment of desalination plants in coastal areas must be expanded, and plants must be established to treat and maintain sewage water that has been stopped in order to benefit from this water in irrigating gardens and parks and reduce its contamination of groundwater.”

She added: “There are many possible options to address water stress in Libya, including activating water fee collection laws and not being lenient in this regard to reduce water waste, and developing water harvesting programs to benefit from every drop of rainwater.”

She also stressed the need to “provide the necessary budgets to implement water and sanitation projects, to ensure optimal consumption of drinking water and reduce pollution rates, and to carry out awareness programmes at all levels to highlight the extent of the problem and call on everyone to contribute to finding solutions.”

** Southern consumption
According to Abu Bakr Matko Mustafa, Director of the Libyan Center for Studies and Research in Environmental Sciences and Technology, Southern Region Branch (governmental), “Agriculture consumes more than 90 percent of the water consumed in the southern region.”

Mustafa added, in an interview with Anadolu Agency: “Despite the abundance of groundwater in the southern region, water consumption must not exceed safe limits, i.e. an acceptable annual decline in the level of groundwater.”

However, “groundwater reservoirs in some areas of the south exceeded the rates of annual decline in their levels, so they were placed under a restricted or absolute ban regime,” Mustafa added.

He explained that, “In the case of a restricted ban, drilling wells is prohibited unless they are an alternative to existing ones or for drinking purposes. As for the absolute ban, drilling wells is completely prohibited except within narrow limits for drinking purposes.”

He pointed out that “water stress is described in regions or countries whose consumption exceeds 40 percent of renewable water, and it is considered severe water stress if it exceeds 80 percent of the annual water supply.”

“Therefore, the term acute water stress is not sufficient to describe the situation in Libya; Consumption exceeds 80 percent of renewable water, while southern Libya’s water sources are non-renewable,” according to Mustafa.

** Free water
Mustafa said, “Libya does not depend on the collection system, so free water causes it to be wasted, whether in agriculture, washing stations (cars, etc.), garden irrigation, or water spraying in front of homes by citizens, as a result of the absence of societal responsibility regarding the importance of water.”

He added: “Therefore, the groundwater reserve is declining at a rate of more than one meter annually. The authorities must search for alternatives, whether by providing alternatives to crops that deplete water, advanced irrigation methods, and setting water prices for all uses, especially commercial ones.”

Amid political disputes and disagreements that prevent long-awaited elections in the oil-rich country, Libya has two governments and many official institutions divided, which hinders the state from addressing serious problems, including water stress.

Mustafa, a government official, expressed “surprise that the relevant authorities have not developed alternative plans to preserve groundwater by building dams to conserve rainwater in the event of its fall, for use in agriculture.”

As well as through “treatment of wastewater, and the use of alternative energies such as solar energy in the south, instead of current power plants.” Because it drains large amounts of water during cooling and evaporation processes.”

Mustafa revealed that “a plan is scheduled to be developed during the current year that includes workshops on organic agriculture and awareness lectures for farmers to rationalize water and use water safely.”

He added: “We are about to complete a study on settlement agricultural projects in terms of chemical and physical properties, to find out how long the water and soil for these projects are valid or not.”