Water desalting and the Middle East peace process

This essay examines seawater desalination technology and projects that could help solve water disputes that have been exacerbating relations between Israel and its Arab neighbors. While water conflicts are not the chief cause of tension in the area, they make achieving peace more difficult. In the past, analysts have advocated several different methods for achieving economically competitive water desalting, only to encounter disappointingly high costs. Israeli engineers have reduced costs significantly by exploiting the reverse osmosis method. This method gives promise of future advances. At any rate, Israel has no better option. Thus, research, improved designs, and construction projects are continuing. Even costly seawater desalting is likely to prove more attractive than the conflicts that water controversies might produce. If the Israelis succeed in producing substantially increased amounts of desalted water from their own coastlines, they can lessen (though not reduce entirely) their reliance on controversial water sources in Arab lands. By lessening tensions over water rights, improved desalting technologies could reduce the obstacles to peace.