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).

Agriculture consumes 1,546 MCM/yr (83% of total use), drinking water 196 MCM/yr and industrial consumption is 130 MCM/yr, totalling 1,872 MCM/yr. This represents a deficit of 316 MCM/yr.

Irrigated agriculture is the primary water consumer, with an average of around 60% of total water use, where 39% is used for productive agriculture, 11% used for greening and landscaping and 10% for forestry.

Desalination of seawater and brackish groundwater will continue to be a viable option to increase water supply. Considering recent cost-cutting innovations in the desalination process, this alternative may prove to be a relatively inexpensive option in the near future.

There are no official data on the total water use in Sudan by sector or region, and data collected by international institutions and United Nations’ (UN) agencies are scant

While the annual yield of the Zayandehroud River has been significantly increased as a result of water transfers in the past decade

In 2016, Fanack, Land Life Company (LLC) and the Union of Agricultural Work Committees (UAWC) initiated a pilot project to bring the innovative COCOON planting technology to Palestine.

The annual amount of water used in Syria is about 15BCM. This comes from the Euphrates (50 per cent) and the Asi River basins (20 per cent). Of the water usage from the Asi River, 2,230MCM are used for irrigation, 320MCM for domestic purposes and 270MCM for industrial purposes. The total amount of water withdrawn from the Asi River is 2,730MCM

The foundation stone of the dam was laid on 6 February 2011. On completion, the dam is expected to be 22.50 m high, with a capacity of 110MCM. Of that, 40MCM will be used for flood prevention and the rest for energy production, and irrigation (around 9,000 hectares of agricultural land).

The rate of wastewater treatment is still low in many MENA countries, and reuse faces many challenges like; preference for freshwater over wastewater, inadequate information on the status of reuse and disposal of wastewater, and incomplete economic analysis of the wastewater treatment and reuse options