Water shortage in GCC countries: transferring water from Iraqi Kurdistan Region

The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries lack renewable freshwater resources, yet demand for water is rising fast. The groundwater as the largest freshwater supplier has significantly dwindled and its quality has degraded. Desalination of seawater is increasingly used but the process is risky and it has huge impacts on the environment. Rainfall generally is too little to rely on. This paper discusses the water situation in GCC countries and proposes water transfer from the Iraqi Kurdistan Region (IKR). It argues that desalination cannot be the only future solution for water shortage; additional sources can be developed. Water from IKR can alleviate the existing water shortage problem. © 2019, © 2019 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.