Workshop on Operationalizing the Regional Collaborative Platform to Address ‘Water Consumption, Water Productivity and Drought Management’ in Agriculture, 27 - 29 October 2015, Cairo, Egypt

1. Getting the right framework for
sustainable water resources management
Pasquale Steduto,
FAO Water Scarcity Initiative
Chris Perry
former Deputy Director General IWMI
Fawzi Karajeh
FAO Senior Water Specialist
Cairo - Egypt, 27-29 October 2015
Consumptive and
non-consumptive water use

2. Actual Renewable Water Resources per Capita, by Region
The Water Context

3. Declining Water Availability in the NENA region
m3percapita
0
500
1000
1500
2000
2500
3000
3500
1 2 3 41962 1992 2011 2013
Water scarcity
Year
Absolute water scarcity

4. % of Total Renewable Water Resources Withdrawn, by Region
> 85% used in Irrigation
Sustainability limits

5. Groundwater abstraction as % of annual recharge

6. Country
Groundwater
consumption
Recharage
Required
Reduction in
Consumption
BCM/yr BCM/yr %
Iran 53 26 51
KSA 21 6 71
Egypt 5 2 60
Libya 4.4 1.3 70
Algeria 2.5 0.8 68
Morocco 2.4 0.8 67
Yemen 1.9 1 47
Syria 1.6 0.4 75
UAE 1.6 0.4 75
Tunisia 1.6 0.9 44
Israel 0.6 0.2 67
Jordan 0.5 0.3 40
Oman 0.5 0.3 40
Kuwait 0.3 0.1 67
Qatar 0.2 0.2 0
The key point is that
consumption of irrigation
water has to decrease
substantially to restore
equilibrium in aquifers.

7. North China Plain
20 years…~20 year
~20 m

8. ~37 year
~30 m
California

9. The NENA Region – and the world in general –
is heavily dependent on unsustainable water
consumption (by-far due to irrigation)
The Message
The Response
Management of
•Supply [Better storage and conveyance efficiency, integrated
surface and groundwater, greywater, rain water harvesting,
protection of water resources , wastewater treatment and reuse,
desalination, etc. ]
•Demand [land use, market-based instruments, increase water
productivities, reduce food losses, intersectoral allocation, raising
public awareness, etc.]

10. One key-word is ‘Water Saving’ in irrigation
But …what water saving refers to?
Water saving refers to that water that would be
otherwise no longer available to the system under
consideration (spatial-scale issue)
…and the ‘dominant’ measure undertaken is the
‘conversion’ from traditional to modern or hi-tech
irrigation (higher efficiency and better performance)
But in the NENA Region water scarcity is chronic
and will intensify with time

11. Field 1 Field 2 Field 3
Basin
ef=33%
ef=50%
ef=100%
eB=100%
Field 4 Field 5 Field 6
ef=100% ef=100% ef=100%
Use of efficient/high-
tech irrigation (e.g.,
drip) at farm-field level
is assumed to ‘save
water’ but in reality
has only re-allocated
water at basin level
Water
Efficiency
≠
Energy
Efficiency

12. Spain
From González-Cebollada (2015)
Does high-tech/modernization of
irrigation allows water saving?
“irrigation modernization policies in Spain, mainly financed with
billions of euros from Europe, Spanish states and Spanish regions,
and justified socially by hypothetical water savings has not in
practices led to any water savings, but rather the reverse”

13. Does high-tech/modernization of
irrigation allows increased efficiency?

14. Benefits of hi-tech irrigation
• Precise timing and amount of water supply
• Allows water sensitive, high value crops
• Saves fertilizer
• Saves labor
• Saves pumping costs (?)
• ………
But does it reduce consumption of water?

15. Water use
We need a water accounting framework to
make sure we are saving water or not
Consumptive
Non-consumptive
Beneficial (TC)
Non-beneficial (ES/Tw)
Recoverable (return flow)
Non-recoverable
{
{
Water Accounting

16. Simple rules for
Water Sustainability
Water
Accounting
Setting the
limits of
consumption
Adopt all measures to
maximize the benefit of
each drop of water
(sources, users, consumptions, re-uses)
(overall, by allocation;
balancing water in&out)
(e, WP, HiTech, governance, etc.)
1
2
3

17. • The NENA region is heavily dependent on
unsustainable water consumption
Concluding Remarks
• Water Accounting is a ‘must’ to identify
consumptive and non-consumptive water use
• “Hi-tech” irrigation rarely saves water
Increased production for a given crop means
higher water consumption
High value crops increase water demand, more
pumping, deeper wells, etc.
• Control of water allocations must precede
introduction of modern/hi-tech irrigation

18. http://neareast.fao.org
Thank You