This new city rising out of the desert of Oman is perhaps the quintessential New Silk Road endeavor: fully international, extremely expensive, nearly impossible.
The most notable part of these developments in the Middle East is the scarcity of water, and how much of an expense it is to desalinate salt water. Duqm gets a reported 1.4 inches of rainfall per year. If I were running out of oil (i.e. hydrocarbons), I'm not sure building a city in the dessert is the ideal choice. Water scarcity affects some of the wealthiest communities on earth. Why would anyone think a city receiving 1.4 inches of rainfall a year will have enough potable water? Hence, the value of a camel.
If desalination technologies do not advance FAST (and they have not thus far), running out of oil will be eclipsed by a much bigger problem. Water will eventually cost more per gallon than the most refined crude. And as the wealthy Southwest United States is learning, you can't buy your way out of this dilemma. Soon, a potable water shortage will catch-up with these ideas of diversification through development in regions where large populations cannot be readily sustained.
This reminds me of the movie "Dune."
As always Mr. Shepard, you make me think. Thank you.
Hello Brad, Good point here. I was told that Duqm has a massive desalination plant, but at the time that I was there it wasn't yet functioning. I'm not sure what technology is uses or how it's powered or how much capacity it really has. On my next visit I will look into this.
There's an interesting mentality with the new city builders that seems to hark all the way back to the dawn of civilization. It's like a Man vs. Nature conflict where it's assumed that Man can overcome anything. It's sort of a megalomanic condition -- especially when the new city is being built out in the middle of a desert.
Beyond that, modern humans really don't get the water crisis. I've watched new cities being built out in the desert of China's Gansu province where there's a known water shortage issue that have water parks, artificial lakes, introduced types of agriculture that require more water than readily available. We can conceptualize a lack of oil, but water ... well, we seem pretty dumb to it.
One of my environmental engineering mentors (Retired Dr. John Deitz, University of Central Florida) was key in developing one of the largest desalination facilities in the world, ironically in the Tampa, Florida area where rainfall is closer to 48 inches per year. But even with that much rainfall, I've read that approximately 40% of the area's potable water supply comes from that facility.
As for energy consumption, it's extremely high. Reverse osmosis is the most common technology currently employed, and it takes a lot of energy to "push" water through a membrane that filters out salt. And the return on that energy is, well, horrible.
Please let us know what you find out. Maybe the Middle East will become leaders in desalination and change the world as a result? But if not, you'll be right; history has proven time and time again that mankind will not overcome nature.
Looking forward to reading more! And meanwhile, maybe I need to buy a camel???
I imagine advanced desalination technology is central to their diversification ambitions ... but who knows? The region has been changing so fast that I'm not sure if they've had a chance to really catch up and take a look at what's happening. This is a good story though that I will definitely check out soon.
Correction: the Tampa Bay Seawater Desalination facility provides 25 million gallons per day. And that's only approximately 10% of the region's potable water needs. The largest plant is apparently in Saudi Arabia and produces approximately 370 million gallons per day. Most of the largest plants are in oil-rich countries. Which makes total sense given the exorbitant energy requirements to produce potable water from salt water. They are all reverse osmosis facilities, so technology has been somewhat stagnant. If they run out of oil (i.e. massive energy resources), the facilities won't work.
Tampa was one of the largest desalination facilities years ago, in no small part a result of NASA "creating" the University of Central Florida. Believing in your objective journalistic instincts, the correction was needed. Tampa's facility is now small compared with most in the Middle East.
Correction: the Tampa Bay Seawater Desalination facility provides 25 million gallons per day. Given the US EPA’s estimate of 88 gallons per day per person, that’s enough for approximately 284,000 people, which is only 10% of the region's potable water needs.
The largest plant is apparently in Saudi Arabia and produces approximately 370 million gallons per day. Most of the largest plants are in oil-rich countries. Which makes total sense given the exorbitant energy requirements to produce potable water from salt water. They are all reverse osmosis (RO) facilities, so technology has been somewhat stagnant. If they run out of oil (i.e. massive energy resources), the facilities will cease to function.
Tampa was one of the largest desalination facilities years ago, in no small part a result of NASA funding research at the University of Central Florida (UCF), and the combined NASA/UCF development of large-scale RO facilities. Ironically, NASA created the technology the world is currently dependent on for desalination, mostly a result of the need for water in space. I’ll spare your readers of where the water comes from, but I suppose all know.
Believing in your objective journalistic instincts, the correction was needed. Tampa's facility is now small compared with most in the Middle East and in the Southwest US.
That's interesting. It's an interesting question of how much energy resources we are now putting into drinking water procurement. This is probably the biggest question we have going forward. I'm going to have to check out the desalination plant in Duqm a little better. Everyone I asked there about it just kind of took it for granted that it would be able to produce enough potable water. The irony of these cities being built to stave off oil dependency are ultimately oil dependent is an interesting twist!
The most notable part of these developments in the Middle East is the scarcity of water, and how much of an expense it is to desalinate salt water. Duqm gets a reported 1.4 inches of rainfall per year. If I were running out of oil (i.e. hydrocarbons), I'm not sure building a city in the dessert is the ideal choice. Water scarcity affects some of the wealthiest communities on earth. Why would anyone think a city receiving 1.4 inches of rainfall a year will have enough potable water? Hence, the value of a camel.
If desalination technologies do not advance FAST (and they have not thus far), running out of oil will be eclipsed by a much bigger problem. Water will eventually cost more per gallon than the most refined crude. And as the wealthy Southwest United States is learning, you can't buy your way out of this dilemma. Soon, a potable water shortage will catch-up with these ideas of diversification through development in regions where large populations cannot be readily sustained.
This reminds me of the movie "Dune."
As always Mr. Shepard, you make me think. Thank you.
Hello Brad, Good point here. I was told that Duqm has a massive desalination plant, but at the time that I was there it wasn't yet functioning. I'm not sure what technology is uses or how it's powered or how much capacity it really has. On my next visit I will look into this.
There's an interesting mentality with the new city builders that seems to hark all the way back to the dawn of civilization. It's like a Man vs. Nature conflict where it's assumed that Man can overcome anything. It's sort of a megalomanic condition -- especially when the new city is being built out in the middle of a desert.
Beyond that, modern humans really don't get the water crisis. I've watched new cities being built out in the desert of China's Gansu province where there's a known water shortage issue that have water parks, artificial lakes, introduced types of agriculture that require more water than readily available. We can conceptualize a lack of oil, but water ... well, we seem pretty dumb to it.
So well put.
One of my environmental engineering mentors (Retired Dr. John Deitz, University of Central Florida) was key in developing one of the largest desalination facilities in the world, ironically in the Tampa, Florida area where rainfall is closer to 48 inches per year. But even with that much rainfall, I've read that approximately 40% of the area's potable water supply comes from that facility.
As for energy consumption, it's extremely high. Reverse osmosis is the most common technology currently employed, and it takes a lot of energy to "push" water through a membrane that filters out salt. And the return on that energy is, well, horrible.
Please let us know what you find out. Maybe the Middle East will become leaders in desalination and change the world as a result? But if not, you'll be right; history has proven time and time again that mankind will not overcome nature.
Looking forward to reading more! And meanwhile, maybe I need to buy a camel???
I imagine advanced desalination technology is central to their diversification ambitions ... but who knows? The region has been changing so fast that I'm not sure if they've had a chance to really catch up and take a look at what's happening. This is a good story though that I will definitely check out soon.
Thanks for reading and the comments.
Correction: the Tampa Bay Seawater Desalination facility provides 25 million gallons per day. And that's only approximately 10% of the region's potable water needs. The largest plant is apparently in Saudi Arabia and produces approximately 370 million gallons per day. Most of the largest plants are in oil-rich countries. Which makes total sense given the exorbitant energy requirements to produce potable water from salt water. They are all reverse osmosis facilities, so technology has been somewhat stagnant. If they run out of oil (i.e. massive energy resources), the facilities won't work.
Tampa was one of the largest desalination facilities years ago, in no small part a result of NASA "creating" the University of Central Florida. Believing in your objective journalistic instincts, the correction was needed. Tampa's facility is now small compared with most in the Middle East.
Correction: the Tampa Bay Seawater Desalination facility provides 25 million gallons per day. Given the US EPA’s estimate of 88 gallons per day per person, that’s enough for approximately 284,000 people, which is only 10% of the region's potable water needs.
The largest plant is apparently in Saudi Arabia and produces approximately 370 million gallons per day. Most of the largest plants are in oil-rich countries. Which makes total sense given the exorbitant energy requirements to produce potable water from salt water. They are all reverse osmosis (RO) facilities, so technology has been somewhat stagnant. If they run out of oil (i.e. massive energy resources), the facilities will cease to function.
Tampa was one of the largest desalination facilities years ago, in no small part a result of NASA funding research at the University of Central Florida (UCF), and the combined NASA/UCF development of large-scale RO facilities. Ironically, NASA created the technology the world is currently dependent on for desalination, mostly a result of the need for water in space. I’ll spare your readers of where the water comes from, but I suppose all know.
Believing in your objective journalistic instincts, the correction was needed. Tampa's facility is now small compared with most in the Middle East and in the Southwest US.
That's interesting. It's an interesting question of how much energy resources we are now putting into drinking water procurement. This is probably the biggest question we have going forward. I'm going to have to check out the desalination plant in Duqm a little better. Everyone I asked there about it just kind of took it for granted that it would be able to produce enough potable water. The irony of these cities being built to stave off oil dependency are ultimately oil dependent is an interesting twist!