Bahrain and other GCC countries must reduce their consumption of water to ease the burden on the region's limited resources, experts have said.

Each person living in the Gulf consumes up to double the amount used by those in Europe.

In the Gulf, water consumption ranges between 350 and 500 litres per person per day, whereas someone in Europe consumes an average of 250 litres and about 130 litres in Germany, said scientists at a symposium at the Crowne Plaza's Bahrain Conference Centre.

'Usually water is so heavily subsidised here that there is no conservation,' said Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research, Kuwait principal research scientist Dr Mahmoud Medhat Abdel-Jawad.

'The basic requirement of a person doesn't exceed 100 litres and those living in the desert don't need more than 30 litres.

'The cost of water production based on energy consumption and international prices is between $0.5 (189 fils) and $2 (756 fils) to a cubic metre.'

Dr Abdel-Jawad said it was vital that people reduce their consumption of water because many of the natural rivers or sweet water springs had dried up and the water that existed was highly salinated and evaporation was great.

'Conservation and less demand on water will mean there is less pollution and this is very important.'

Dr Abdel-Jawad was speaking at a Press conference held on the sidelines of a two-day International Desalination Association (IDA) symposium, which concluded at the Crowne Plaza yesterday. The conference, 'Desalination and the Gulf: The relationship between the environment and meeting the region's water needs', was attended by industry experts and representatives from Gulf governments.

Electricity and Water Authority director Ali Redha Hussain said the authority was working hard to ensure good quality water reached everyone across the country.

He said Bahrain's four desalination plants produced a total of 143 million gallons of water per day - 90 million in Hidd, 25 million in Sitra, 21 million in Ras Abu Jarjur and Addur and 7 million at a private plant at Alba.

'By June 2011 we will have Addur Independent Water and Power Plant that will produce an added 48 million gallons per day,' he said.

'The capacity will double by 2015 to 100 million gallons per day and cover all the expanding areas of the country.'

The conference comes as part of a global initiative by IDA's Environmental Task Force that reviews possible impacts of desalination.

Best practices and recommendations from the symposium will be compiled and published in a blue paper which will be distributed to users and industry members early next year.

'We want to improve the sharing of information across boundaries. We are discussing mitigation options such as offshore intakes and see how applicable they are here,' said IDA Environmental Task Force co-chair Lisa Henthorne.

'We are looking at the amount of energy needed in the different processes and discussing environmental assessment monitoring and the impact of desalination on the marine environment and air quality.'

King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, Saudi Arabia, senior research scientist Dr Sabine Lattemann said because of the activities of reclamation and dredging it was sometimes difficult to establish the impact of desalination on the environment.

'We need a better understanding of the environmental impact,' she said.

'There is little literature and data and what does exist is up to 10 years old.'-TradeArabia News Service