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   Jeri Dansky (jeridansky@sfba.social)'s status on Monday, 09-Mar-2026 04:37:20 JST Jeri Dansky

   AP has a really good look at the desalination plants in the Middle East: how critical they are to the countries and how vulnerable they are, too. Something I never thought about until today.

   https://apnews.com/article/iran-war-desalination-water-oil-middle-east-12b23f2fa26ed5c4a10f80c4077e61ce

   In Kuwait, about 90% of drinking water comes from desalination, along with roughly 86% in Oman and about 70% in Saudi Arabia.

   “Everyone thinks of Saudi Arabia and their neighbors as petrostates. But I call them saltwater kingdoms. They’re human-made fossil-fueled water superpowers,” said Michael Christopher Low, director of the Middle East Center at the University of Utah.

   Gulf governments and U.S. officials have long recognized the risks these systems pose for regional stability: if major desalination plants were knocked offline, some cities could lose most of their drinking water within days.

   #water #MiddleEast #IranWar

   • Embed this notice
     Barbara Monaco (barbramon1@mas.to)'s status on Monday, 09-Mar-2026 05:36:56 JST Barbara Monaco

     in reply to

     @jeridansky I remember reading about Tehran's severe water crisis late last year. The city was already in imminent danger of running out of potable water. War can only exacerbate an already dire situation.
     Tehran is more populous than New York City, metro area is home to more than 16 million people. 😔

   • Embed this notice
     Jeri Dansky (jeridansky@sfba.social)'s status on Monday, 09-Mar-2026 05:36:56 JST Jeri Dansky

     in reply to

     • Barbara Monaco

     @Barbramon1 I remember reading about that, too. And things can only be much worse now.

     Since Iran is different from many of the other Gulf states in that it mostly gets its water from sources other than desalination, that Iran story didn't put desalination on my radar.

     #water #Iran #MiddleEast