Water security in the GCC countries: challenges and opportunities Omar Saif & Toufic Mezher & Hassan A. Arafat # AESS 2014 Abstract The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) of Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) inhabits of one of the most water-scarce regions in the world, once comprised small impoverished desert principalities. However, since the 1970s, the GCC has witnessed rapid population growth and economic develop- ment, brought on by sharp increases in oil revenues. Popula- tion growth coupled with increased urbanization, industriali- zation, and agricultural output has placed tremendous pressure on the region’ s scarce groundwater resources. GCC countries are all using hundreds to thousands times more water than sustainable recharge would allow. Their water footprints, among the highest in the world, are sustained by unconven- tional sources of water such as desalination, wastewater reuse, and the import of “virtual” water via agricultural goods. This paper analyzes the current state of water in the GCC using a water–energy–food (WEF) nexus approach. The paper dis- cusses various proposals for meeting future water needs in the GCC such as renewable energy-powered desalination and foreign direct investment in agricultural land and addresses the various tradeoffs involved. Keywords GCC . Water security . Desalination . Water– energy–food nexus . Groundwater . Renewable energy Introduction When one thinks of a city such as Dubai, the first thing that may come to mind is the city’ s sparkling skyscrapers or its vast wealth. However, like many other cities along the Arabi- an Gulf, the economic prosperity is largely attributed to the discovery and exploitation of fossil fuels following WWII, along with more recent contributions from other sectors, such as tourism and finance (Mansfeld and Winckler 2007). This oil wealth has led to the profound transformation of impoverished small desert principalities to modern wealthy nations (Mansfeld and Winckler 2007). This transformation resulted in major economic, social, and environmental chang- es, which continue to this day. Countries of the Gulf Cooper- ation Council (GCC) which include Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates boast some of the highest per capita incomes and the fastest growing economies in the world (The Economist Intelligence Unit 2010). From 1998 to 2008, real GDP grew at an average rate of 5.2 % annually for the GCC, with the population increasing at an average rate of 14 % annually for the same time period (Economist Intelligence Unit 2010). Table 1 provides a snap- shot of each GCC country with population and development indicators. Figure 1 demonstrates the precipitous population rise of GCC countries since the 1960s. However, such drastic development would not have been possible without vital resources such as freshwater, a scarce resource in the GCC (Alnaser and Alnaser 2011). To support the booming populations and continued devel- opment, GCC member states have far surpassed their respec- tive carrying capacities, stressing their already limited water resources. However, their energy wealth has allowed them to generate freshwater from the sea via desalination, grow food in otherwise inhospitable environments, and purchase agricul- tural lands abroad to increase their food security. Considering the interplay of these various policies and in order to achieve O. Saif : T. Mezher Institute Center for Smart and Sustainable Systems (iSMART), Masdar Institute of Science & Technology, P.O. Box 54224, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates H. A. Arafat (*) Institute Center for Water and Environment (iWATER), Masdar Institute of Science & Technology, P.O. Box 54224, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates e-mail: harafat@masdar.ac.ae DOI 10.1007/s13412-014-0178-8 Published online: 26 August 2014 J Environ Stud Sci (2014) 4:329–346