Inefficient water use: network leakages, agricultural waste
Between 2010 and 2016, about 69% of the total irrigated areas in Tunisia adopted water-saving technologies, with an efficiency varying between 38% and 85% and an average of 59%, which is far from the desired norm of around 80% in the pressurized networks.[1] [2] The low level of efficiency can be explained not only by the physical losses in the networks but also the administrative losses due to illegal connections and insufficient registration of water meters.

Morocco’s water resources are under increasing pressure from population and industrial growth, irrigated agriculture, urbanization, tourism, climate change, overexploitation of aquifers and deteriorating water quality.

There are substantial water losses, mostly leakages, in the drinking water and irrigation transport and distribution networks. In the irrigation network, losses amounted to 4 BCM in 2010, according to the Ministry of Equipment, Transport, Logistics and Water. Drinking water losses were about 400 MCM (35%), with a performance rate of less than 70%. Some 415 MCM of wastewater

Low water productivity in agriculture is a major challenge facing water management in Syria. Net returns for crops are generally quite low. Cotton and sugar, which are planted over 221,000 ha, have negative net returns (measured in social prices).

Egypt faces significant challenges to water resource development and use, the solution to which requires the mobilization of other natural resources, such as land and energy, and integrated management

For the first time, an integrated assessment that includes climate change predictions, hydrological modelling and socio-economic vulnerability has been developed for the Arab region

Groundwater levels in different regions of the UAE have dropped by 60 metres on average. This poses a significant challenge.

The Zayandehroud, which means ‘life-giving river’, is the largest river in central Iran and has traditionally been a major source of water for the country

The total long-term annual renewable water resources are estimated at 120BCM, of which about 78BCM go to surface run-off, and groundwater recharge is estimated at about 42BCM per annum, 11BCM by qanats (underground water supply systems) and springs, plus 31BCM by wells.

Sustainable water resource management in Iraq has no shortage of challenges. Some of Iraq’s water hardships, like seasonal floods and droughts, occur naturally. Many of the most disruptive and destructive problems are, however, man-made: water infrastructure debilitated from decades of war and neglect; inefficient and outdated agricultural practices; rapid population growth and urbanization; competing water management approaches within transboundary river systems; and the looming crisis of climate change. The government of Iraq has plans to address the situation but it remains to be seen whether major reform will transpire.