Desalination, water, and war

A dangerous precedent is being set in Trump’s new Middle East war: targeting critical and highly vulnerable desalination plants that provide vital freshwater resources for the region. Two such attacks have been reported in the last few days which would, if confirmed, violate international law and raise the specter of worsening the already intensive destruction and misery facing civilian populations in the region. Attacks on civilian systems, including water systems, must be condemned and punished under the laws of war.

On March 7, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi claimed a freshwater desalination plant on Iran’s Qeshm Island was attacked by the United States, saying, “Water supply in 30 villages has been impacted. Attacking Iran’s infrastructure is a dangerous move with grave consequences. The US set this precedent, not Iran.” The next day, the government of Bahrain reported that an Iranian drone attack caused material damage to one of its water desalination plants.

The Earth’s freshwater resources are limited, unevenly distributed, and increasingly unable to satisfy the demands of growing populations and economies. In highly water-scarce regions like the Middle East and the Persian Gulf, constraints on the inadequate natural endowment of freshwater have encouraged nations there to look to the vast stocks of salt water in seas and oceans for more consistent and reliable water supplies by building large-scale, complex desalination plants that turn salt water to fresh. These plants are extremely expensive and have environmental problems associated with their intensive use of (primarily) fossil fuels, and the need to dispose of highly salty brine. But in regions with few other options, they have become critical for water supply.

No region of the world exemplifies the importance of desalination more than the Middle East—a water-short region with growing populations and water needs. The world’s largest desalination plants have been built in the countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council (Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, and Bahrain) and Israel has also invested heavily in desalination. Altogether, countries of the region have built hundreds of plants: In Kuwait and Oman, nearly 90 percent of drinking water comes from desalination; in Saudi Arabia, 70 percent of water is desalinated and their expected investment in additional plants in the next few years is estimated at as much as $80 billion. Half of Israel’s potable water comes from five large coastal desalination plants.

This intense dependence on desalination and the concentration of production in large, central facilities, makes them highly vulnerable to disruption and attacks during conflicts. As early as 1983 the US intelligence community warned in a secret report that “disruption of desalination facilities in most of the Arab countries could have more serious consequences than the loss of any other industry or commodity.” The Pacific Institute’s Water Conflict Chronology database has documented such attacks in past conflicts. During the 1991 Gulf War, Iraq intentionally destroyed much of Kuwait’s desalination capacity. In 2016 and 2017, desalination plants in Yemen were bombed by Saudi Arabia and allied forces. In 2019 and 2022, Houthi forces were accused of firing missiles at desalination plants in Saudi Arabia, and after the Hamas attack on Israel in October 2023, Israel damaged, destroyed, or shut down much of Gaza’s water system including its desalination plants.

The new reports from Iran and the Gulf reinforce the need for the international community to condemn such attacks. International law explicitly prohibits attacks on infrastructure critical to the survival of the civilian population, including drinking water systems. Article 54 of the 1977 Additional Protocol I to the Geneva Convention states:

“It is prohibited to attack, destroy, remove or render useless objects indispensable to the survival of the civilian population, such as foodstuffs, agricultural areas for the production of foodstuffs, crops, livestock, drinking water installations and supplies and irrigation works, for the specific purpose of denying them for their sustenance value to the civilian population or to the adverse Party, whatever the motive…”

Similarly, the Berlin Rules on Water Resources, codifying customary international law, sets out regulations for protecting water resources during conflicts, including the principle that nations may not take actions that cut off water supplies to civilians.

All parties to the current war must repudiate such attacks and act to prevent their militaries from targeting water supplies, water systems, and other critical civilian infrastructure. Water must never be a target or weapon of war.