Team members Muhammad Dawood, Ushma Farooq, Hassan Raza, Hassnain Qasim, Ayesha Khan and Babar Nawaz were awarded a Silver medal at an award ceremony that was held at the Hynes Convention Center in Boston.

The global iGEM contest based on synthetic biology is a five-day event featuring oral presentations, poster presentations, workshops and social events.

This year’s participants were encouraged to design projects in the environmental/social context. The iGEM Peshawar team developed a “Reporter Fish” that is genetically engineered to detect mental contamination in water. The fish will change its color once it comes into contact with water contaminated with heavy metals or other pollutants – an indication that the waterbody is too polluted to support a population of fish for human consumption. The team self-engineered the genetic circuits for the said characteristic and tested its viability in bacterial cells. The project also featured a sensor system that alarms farmers through a text message upon detection of contaminated water.

Today, polluted seafood is a serious environmental issue. It contains an increasing level of contaminants that are causing serious health problems. The iGEM Peshawar students believe that this technology can be used by fish farmers to combat the problem of unhealthy fish and provide produce which is safe for human consumption.

iGEM is a global event that has been running for over a decade. It encourages students to solve some of the world’s most serious problems by building genetically engineered biological systems. The Pakistani cohort competed with over 90 teams whose projects were featured at the event – it also had over 3,000 synthetic biologists.  Speaking about the experience Omer Zeb from Swabi said: “Being the only electrical engineer in the team working with the undergrad biologists of Pakistan was a good experience.” Another member of the team, Hassan Raza, from Faisalabad said the project would help in combating a pressing environmental issue – water pollution.

‘I am super proud of the team who put in a lot of effort to win us a Silver medal this time. A lot of thanks to the Government of KP and CECOS university for the sponsorship and the all-out support throughout the competition this year, said Dr. Faisal Khan team supervisor and the director of the Institute of Integrative Biosciences at CECOS University. ‘We hope our industry will join hands with us in IGEM 2018 like all other teams here from different countries’, he added.

This is the second time a Pakistani team has participated and won in this competition. Previously, the Pakistani team was awarded a bronze medal for devising a BioSensor that recorded carbon monoxide and nitrogen oxide levels being eliminated from vehicle exhausts.

Sources:

https://tribune.com.pk/story/1557867/1-pakistani-team-bag-silver-medal-igem-2017/

http://iib.cecos.edu.pk/igem-peshawar-17-wins-silver/

https://www.pakistankakhudahafiz.com/pakistani-biology-students-bag-bronze-medal-igem-world-championship/

Water can be classified as the single most critical natural resource; it is a basic human need without which there is no life. It is an input to almost all production, in agriculture, industry, energy, transport, by healthy people in healthy ecosystems.

Today, the world is facing an ever-growing scarcity of fresh water. With the steady growth in the global population, changes in living standards and dietary preferences, coupled with the accelerating climate change (CC), experts predict that water shortages will exacerbate in the coming years and decades. The World Economic Forum’s Global Risks experts’ rated Water supply crisis, as one of the world’s greatest risks in terms of both impact and likelihood for two years (in 2012 and 2013) consecutively. Indeed, water scarcity already affects every continent, as around 1.2 billion people live in areas of physical scarcity and another 1.6 billion people face economic water shortage (due to the lack of necessary infrastructure).

Water usage in irrigation

By 2050, the world population is expected to hit 9 billion. Most urban cities will expand and require more fresh water resources to meet their basic human and public health needs, plus their demand for water-intensive energy, will also double. Demand for food, the world’s largest water user, will grow drastically, requiring even more water. This will have dire impacts on agriculture and world food supply, public health, economic development, energy generation and the sustenance of many.

When we zoom on the Muslim world, the situation is not much different from the global lenses. That’s why at the conference of Islamic environment ministers in 2010; water shortage was highlighted as one of the most pressing environmental issue facing the region. Certainly, the challenge of balancing water demand against supply, is enormous for most of the Muslim countries, namely those in arid, semi-arid and hyper-arid zones such as countries in the MENA region.

For over 15 years now, the International Center for Biosaline Agriculture (ICBA) has conducted several Scientific and Policy research workshops, on water scarcity issues and on alternative solutions to ease up the pressure on scare water resources. Such solutions are geared towards exploring alternative water resources, particularly for the agriculture sector, that uses more than 80% of total water in most of the Muslim countries. These Non-conventional waters such as salty, brackish, recycled and treated water, offer opportunities to alleviate this pressure and to develop marginal environments into prosperous communities.

In 2012, ICBA, in collaboration with the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), developed the OIC Water Vision “working together for a water secure future”, to foster collaboration and cooperation on water in the Islamic world. The OIC Water Vision responds to the challenge of securing reliable access to water for health, livelihoods and production, and managing risks related to water associated with population growth, depletion of resources, environmental degradation and climate change. Close collaboration with major stakeholders, mainly the ministries responsible for water and key Islamic organizations, has ensured that the vision is culturally and politically appropriate, as a framework for developing water policy and management in all 57 countries.

From a national perspective, ICBA has been a strong partner with the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in development of water policies.

Forage security

Through the UAE “Water Conservation Strategy”, ICBA researchers identified basic initiatives to manage water resources sustainably, in order to conserve water resources from exploitation and pollution. Based on an integrated approach that anticipates meeting future water demand from a mix of investment in new water infrastructure and efficiency improvements of existing water supplies (natural resources, desalination and reclaimed water), the Strategy identified the key questions, assumptions and areas of risk to future water development. The lack of renewable resources in the UAE, is the most challenging factor for sustainable water resources use and management. Thus, non-conventional waters are the only dependable water sources for sustainable economic development.

ICBA also joined forces with the Abu Dhabi Emirate to develop the “Abu Dhabi Water Master Plan”, the first comprehensive assessment of both natural and non-conventional water, in the Emirate. The research involved developing new data sets on aspects of water, such as, the environmental and economic costs which are crucial to support decision-makers. Understanding the environmental implications and developing the legal and regulatory framework, were key components of the study. Water policy reforms were recommended to ensure the sustainable management of water resources. Afterwards, the Abu Dhabi Water Council (ADWC) was established to monitor and coordinate activities in the entire water sector, to support strategic planning and unify the standards and practices in the Emirate.

ICBA

Among the non-conventional water sources, the treated wastewater (TWW) is receiving more attention as a reliable water resource. Undeniably, urban areas are expected to grow considerably, as by 2050, 70% of the global population will be living in cities. This coupled with further improvements to sanitation services, will result in a continuous increase in TWW supplies. ICBA considers TWW, if used safely, as a valuable source in the water balance of all countries suffering from water shortage. To this end, ICBA, in collaboration with several partners, including national programs and the Islamic Development Bank (IDB) and others, have been conducting research studies, capacity building programs, expert meetings and workshops in the Arab region, over the past five years. Extensive information and data have been produced and many lessons have been highlighted in the pilot countries; Jordan, Oman, Tunisia, and UAE. In 2014, ICBA in collaboration with the UAE Ministry of Environment and Water (MOEW) and ACSAD, organized an international conference on “The Use of Treated Wastewater in the agricultural production”. The conference stressed the need for a holistic approach that brings in all stakeholders and builds trust and ownership of the TWW as a valuable alternative source of water.

In addition to policy, ICBA also carries out fundamental research to support water availability and use efficiency. For instance, ICBA research recently demonstrated that using daily weather data as a tool for irrigation management could lead to 50% water
savings. ICBA researchers have also been part of collaborative research efforts aimed at  making use of satellite observations, in situ data and integrated hydrologic models to generate water data sets, providing vital information to MENA decision-makers. For a number of years, ICBA research has targeted cultivation of halophytes (salt-loving plants) that remove salts from saline soils and water. Modern avenues, such as extraction of renewable bioenergy from these halophytic species is also being tested. Many new varieties of crops, particularly those using less water, higher yields, and are drought resistant, are being developed and tested across the Middle East and Central Asia.

ICBA recently launched a four year business plan (2013-16) with anticipated investments of USD $53 million hinging on 5 research and 4 enabling innovations. With the backing of its board and the partnership of other institutions, ICBA is well on its way to become a global centre for excellence seeking to address the challenges of water scarcity in the Islamic World.

Dr. Ismahane Elouafi holds a PhD in Genetics (Cordoba University, Spain) and is the Director General of International Center for Biosaline Agriculture (ICBA). The International Center for Biosaline Agriculture (ICBA) is a not-for-profit, international center of excellence for research and development in marginal environments and works to address agricultural and water scarcity solutions. For further information, please visit http://www.biosaline.org/

*The images are courtesy ICBA

By Paula Hammond

In the 1980s, anyone wanting to play a round of golf in Saudi Arabia, would have had to make do with one of the Kingdom’s many desert courses, where instead of grass ‘greens’, golfers played on sandy ‘browns’. Water traps were merely pits marked with blue tape and players were allowed to bring their own square of turf with them to tee-off from. These days, Riyadh boasts several all-grass courses. Saudi Arabia may be one of planet Earth’s driest nations, with less than 59 millimeters of rain a year, but to the casual observer it looks like a veritable oasis. Appearances can be deceptive.

Water is one of the cornerstones of life. Although 71 percent of the planet’s surface is covered in this essential liquid, only 2.5 percent of it is fresh water. Most of this is locked up in glaciers, meaning that our survival as a species, hinges on the tiny percentage of water found in rivers, lakes, and aquifers. Of these there are two types; one is potentially renewable, while the other (fossil aquifers) remains water locked into the ground in the distant past, which can be exhausted.

Too much luxury?

As populations increase, and regions become more industrialised, the challenge of balancing water needs with available supplies is already – in some Muslim countries – becoming a matter of life and death. And it’s a problem exacerbated by climate change. In fact, in 2011, Kuwait set a world temperature record of 53.3’C – so hot that when rain comes, most water evaporates before it penetrates the ground.

Solving Problems

A ‘water-stressed’ nation is one, where there’s less than 1,000 cubic meters of water available per person per year. According to a World Resources Institute study, 36 countries worldwide have “extremely high” water-stress levels, including Bahrain, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Western Sahara and Saudi Arabia.

So the question has to be asked: if Saudi Arabia is so water-stressed, how can it possibly build real-grass golf courses? The answer is simple: money.

In many Muslim nations, water management hinges on tried and tested techniques, which are quick and cheap to implement. In the Middle East for instance, farmers have been irrigating their land using qanats since the time of the Persian Empire. These sloping tunnels are cut into the mountainside and channel water where it’s needed most. In rural Tunisia, farmers bury cisterns on sloping ground to act as mini reservoirs, to collect rainwater for drinking. This too, is a technique dating back to the Bronze Age.

In nations with more financial muscle, new technologies have been brought in to help the fight. Drip-irrigation – where crops are watered at the roots using perforated tubes buried underground – is one technique that has proved to be very successful, increasing crop yields by 50%, using 50% less water.

Using oil-drilling technology, Saudi Arabia has tapped aquifers below the desert sands, enabling it become self-sufficient in wheat. Around fifty percent of its drinking water, comes from huge desalination plants, that convert seawater into fresh water, while its super-green golf-courses, are irrigated with a mix of desalinated water and treated urban waste water.

Creating Problems

Sadly, though, despite Saudi Arabia’s impressively verdant golf courses, water is still a finite resource and increasingly, even the Kingdom’s oil revenues can’t keep its rapidly growing population fed and watered.

In 2008, the Saudi government admitted that its fossil aquifers were almost depleted. In 2013, Waleed El-Khereiji, Head of the Grains and Silos Flour Management Organization announced that “2015 will be the last market year for local wheat production. We will be fully dependent on imported wheat … by 2016.” The decision was taken to save what little groundwater resources the nation still had.

Afghanistan’s farms and burgeoning cities are putting similarly unsustainable demands on its groundwater. Water tables around the capital are falling by 3.5 meters (11.5 feet) a year and could soon run out completely. Pakistan is so water-stressed that according to a World Bank report “the survival of a modern and growing Pakistan is threatened by [a lack of] water”.

The situation in Bahrain, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, and Saudi Arabia has become so severe, that they’ve taken the step of actually leasing land in sub-Saharan Africa on which to grow crops. However, this is a House of Cards solution at best. Using more water for crop production in, say Ethiopia, where most of the Nile’s headwaters begin, means that nations downstream like Egypt, will ultimately have less water. In the meantime, Turkey is throwing fuel on the fire, with a huge hydroelectric progamme. By damming rivers to power cities, they are inadvertently reducing the water that once flowed into the Euphrates and Tigris Rivers, leaving populations in Yemen, Syria and Iraq, to go dry.

Water Wars

There’s no simple solution to the world’s water shortages but according to His Excellency Hazim El-Naser Ph.D, Minister of Water and Irrigation for the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, unless nations begin to seriously address them, we may soon see our first water wars. “It’s coming” he said.

Looking at water-greedy developments like Riyadh’s golf courses, the concept of shortages is so dire, that they cause water wars that may be hard to swallow, but they’re already here. In 2012, in Beni Sueif in Egypt, one person was killed and many more injured, during a conflict over irrigation water. In the same year, engineers working on flood defenses were attacked and explosives were detonated at Wular Lake in a dispute between Pakistan and India, over control of the waters of the Indus Basin. It’s not hard to imagine such conflicts spilling over, until nations are fighting nations over the control of quickly dwindling water supplies.

Yet if water – or the lack of it – causes conflicts, then Hazim El-Naser believes that it can also bring people together. “Water”, he says, “is the bridge to peace and trust building …”.

All over the world, Muslim nations are fighting to preserve their precious water reserves, using both old and new technologies. Long-neglected quants in Syria and Oman, have been repaired. In Yemen, where people have less than 140 cubic meters of water a year, plans are afoot that could see Sana’a City ‘harvesting’ 100% of its rainwater by 2020. In Iran, farmers are being advised to grow crops that use less water – pistachios rather than sugar beets. While drip-irrigation is being combined with GPS tracking so that tractors can avoid damaging delicate drip lines; making the system even more efficient.

Yet as Hazim El-Naser understands, water shortages are a problem that no one nation can solve on their own. Co-operation, and the sharing of resources and technologies, is not just the best way to combat the problem. It’s the only way. Without it, we could all well be like the Ancient Mariner in the poem by Samuel Taylor Coleridge: “Water, water, everywhere, Nor any drop to drink.”

Paula Hammond is a professional author of over 35 non-fiction books, including popular science volumes on fossils, dinosaurs and endangered animals. She has a passion for learning and the wonders of the natural world.

Sources:

1. The World Bank: http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/AG.LND.PRCP.MM
2. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration: http://www.noaa.gov/ocean.html
3. For a further breakdown of the world’s water resources see: http://water.usgs.gov/edu/earthwherewater.html
4. An underground water supply, which is often found in porous rock.
5. Source: http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2012/01/14/404552/seven-national-all-time-heat-records-set-in-2011/
6. For additional analysis visit http://www.wri.org/blog/2013/12/world’s-36-most-water-stressed-countries
7. From an Irrigation Australian study: http://irrigation.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/Drip-Irrigation-brochure-final-for-print-v8.pdf
8. “Pakistan’s Water Economy: Running Dry”, a World Bank Report: http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2005/11/9596145/pakistans-water-economy-running-dry
9. His Excellency Hazim El-Naser PhD, Minister of Water and Irrigation for the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan in a talk given at Stamford Woods Institute. For a discussion of this lecture visit https://woods.stanford.edu/news-events/news/waters-link-middle-east-peace
10. For more information on “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner” and its author see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Rime_of_the_Ancient_Mariner

Across the Muslim world, water issues vary in their scope and severity. Writing from Oak Ridge National Laboratory in the United States, Syeda Mariya Absar reminds us that “Muslim religious philosophy and the importance of water is … a potential linchpin that could influence future policies and begin to answer some of the water demand challenges these nations face in the 21st century.”

Flooding in countries such as Bangladesh and Indonesia can, and often does, contaminate the water table. Rising sea water threatens to submerge entire countries. Some scholars would argue however, that one of the most pertinent concerns to human survival – on parallel with climate change – is freshwater scarcity.

Despite its importance to survival, the perception of water as a human right, is an idea that was the subject of international debate as recently as 2010. In many parts of the world, freshwater is taken for granted. Hard rains, monsoons, and floods make it difficult to imagine water scarcity, as a global concern – or a question of political stability.

A pump on Lebanon’s Wazzani Spring, a tributary to the Jordan River. That pump project brought Lebanon and Israel to the brink of war in 2001

The freshwater challenges faced across the Muslim world vary greatly, from the rising sea levels that encroach on freshwater availability in Southeast Asia to water abundant states including Albania and Turkey, where water pollution is the primary concern. Nowhere in the Muslim world, is water a more pressing issue than in the conflict-riddled Middle East and North Africa, however. In this region, overtaxed underground aquifers and low yearly rainfall, create dry conditions unlike any other inhabited region on the globe.

In his quiet office, up two flights of stairs in an aging building on the Colorado School of Mines (USA) campus in scenic Golden, CO, Professor Hussein A. Amery sits working on his next book – Arab Water Security. Professor Amery is a political geographer with an in-depth knowledge of water and security. Lebanese by birth, he still sports a tan from his last trip to this country. Author of several books and articles, including Water in the Middle East: A geography of peace (with Aaron T. Wolf); for a successful academic, he is also a humble man.

Prof. Amery is one of a handful of academics, who are focusing on the study of political security and stability, as related to water in the Middle East. He is driven by concerns such as – in his words – “Water scarcity. Desalination is a superb technology, that provides fresh water to people in need, in dry regions, however, it remains an expensive solution. It is far beyond the reach of poor countries like Yemen, Bangladesh, and others. There’s not a cheaper solution on the horizon. Therefore, water security is THE upcoming issue. What would happen if someone were to blow up a mega desalination plant that provides freshwater to a large urban center?”

Amery is right to be concerned – according to Sidem, a company that produces desalination equipment, more than 230 million people depend on desalination for their daily fresh water provisions. The technology provides fresh water for a large portion of the Muslim World, particularly the Middle East. Yet, much of the region is entrenched in violent conflict.

The low-water level in Litani River, Bekaa Valley of Lebanon. Precipitation in the Fertile Crescent countries were very low this past winter and the people are feeling the brunt of that.

Desalination technology has allowed increased development in the United Arab Emirates and other Gulf Corporation Council Countries. The improved standard of living that oil wealth creates, comes with a price – population growth. Imported labor and internal migration to cities, places increased stress on already scant water resources – although the Middle East is home to 5% of the world’s population, it only has access to 1% of the world’s freshwater resources.

Desalination is an expensive endeavor. According to Bloomberg, most of the cost of a desalination plant is tied to the energy the plants consumes – an average of 15,000 kilowatt hours for every million gallons of desalinated water produced. Constructing a plant can cost as little as $21 million dollars, but often runs in the hundreds of millions. A plant recently constructed in California, cost nearly $1 billion USD. Water delivery costs must also be incorporated into calculations, as well as maintenance, upkeep, and the cost of the desalination process itself.

While desalination dependency poses a potential threat, this technology also allows for generosity. Prof. Amery reminds us that “The ruler of Dubai, His Eminence Sheikh Mohammad bin Rashid al-Maktoum, started a water aid initiative, to coincide with the month of Ramadan. The name he chose for it is Suqia. Suqia is the Arabic/Islamic name for quenching one’s thirst. Outside of the United Arab Emirates, the program is known as UAE Water Aid.”

Following the Prophet’s teachings of charity as providing water to the poor, Dubai’s wealth – aided by the existence of desalination plants – is now helping to construct wells in poorer regions that will one day provide water to millions of people.

One challenge facing academics in the Muslim World, as pointed out by Prof. Amery, is finding funding for applied research in water. Beacons of hope exist, however. According to Prof. Amery, “A wonderful foundation that works with all scientists – Arab Science and Technology Foundation (ASTF.net), based in Sharjah, UAE and headed by Dr. Abdalla Alnajjar, really does good work in this arena. It funds Arab scientists who have creative and innovative ideas; this obviously includes funding for projects that provide clean, fresh water to various communities. Funding for applied research in the Middle East and North Africa is very, very limited, so ASTF’s work is very important to the economic and social development of that region.”

The Red-Dead Canal project is an example of desalination as a force for peace in the region. Much of the water on the Jordan River is used by upstream riparians. When the watercourse reaches the Dead Sea, very little water remains. The result is, that the Dead Sea has steadily decreased in size over the past four decades.

Regarding this project, Prof. Amery stated that, “The World Bank and other groups collaborated to develop plans to move water from the

Professor Hussein A. Amery

Red Sea to the Dead Sea. As the water descends, it generates electricity that is used to desalinate water, providing fresh water that is in very short supply in that region. In addition to the obvious hydrological benefits, this science and technology project will ensure that the Dead Sea survives as a World Heritage Site.

The Dead Sea itself has religious value to the Christian community in particular – pilgrims to the Jordan and the Dead Sea can continue their worship with this body of water intact. Politically it is an example – a model project – for how Jews [Israelis] and Muslims [Jordanians] can work together to benefit their own communities, and humanity at large.”

In a future where climate change is expected to create an even more arid Middle East, desalination represents a vulnerable, expensive, and yet effective solution to the increasing water needs in the region. A potential target for terrorists, or a tool for peacebuilding, until something better emerges, desalination is the answer in the Middle East – and not just to the problems created by water scarcity.

For more information on water issues in the Muslim World, UAE Suqia, or water in the Middle East, please see these resources:

1. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=122294630
2. http://english.alarabiya.net/en/perspective/analysis/2014/07/04/Humanitarian-hydro-aid-Confronting-water-scarcity-in-the-Mideast.html
3. http://islamicvoice.com/islamicvoice/water-scarcity-is-leading-to-conflicts/
4. http://www.greenprophet.com/2010/10/islam-water-scarcity/
5. http://www.natureasia.com/en/nmiddleeast/article/10.1038/nmiddleeast.2013.19
6. http://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2014/mar/20/jordan-water-red-sea-dead-sea-project
7. http://gulftoday.ae/portal/f562083a-d371-43a8-853d-e4ccebff19dc.aspx
8. http://www.emirates247.com/news/government/mohammed-launches-uae-suqia-clean-water-for-5-million-people-worldwide-2014-06-25-1.554162
9. http://english.alarabiya.net/en/views/news/middle-east/2014/07/06/How-UAE-Water-Aid-can-potentially-help-2-billion-Muslims-.html
10. http://english.alarabiya.net/en/perspective/analysis/2014/07/04/Humanitarian-hydro-aid-Confronting-water-scarcity-in-the-Mideast.html
11. http://www.jfs.tku.edu.tw/17-3/A01.pdf
12. http://www.un.org/News/Press/docs/2010/ga10967.doc.htm
13. http://www.academia.edu/6259498/Geopolitics_of_Water_Scarcity_Emirates_Center_for_Strategic_and_Security_Studies_Amery_2013_http_www.amazon.com_Water-Food-Security-Arabian-Gulf_dp_9948146239
14. Water and Food Security in the Arabian Gulf. Publisher: I. B. Tauris (2013)
15. Water Management in Islam, Eds. NI Faruqi, AK Biswas, and MJ Bino (2001) –This volume is translated into multiple languages.
16. Islam and ecology; Eds. RC Foltz, FM Denny, and A Baharuddin (2003)
17. http://www.sidem-desalination.com/en/Process/FAQ/#c12260056211
18. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-05-01/energy-makes-up-half-of-desalination-plant-costs-study.html
19. http://www.edwardsaquifer.net/desalination.html

Christina Boyes is a professional writer who splits time living in Mexico and the United States. Her primary interests include seismology, geophysics, green technologies, climate change, water, and the intersection of these areas with geopolitics. 

*Image credits go to Professor Hussein A. Amery. The interviewee can be reached at hamery@mines.edu.

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