Desalination of Red Sea and Gulf of Aden Seawater to Mitigate the Fresh Water Crisis in the Yemen Republic

By the year 2025 Yemen’s per capita water availability will be around 89 m3/year and the country will be highly water stressed. As a consequence, economic status of the farmers involved in qat (also referred as khat) cultivation, a product that supports 25% of the country’s GDP, will fall below the poverty line. With declining water table, the Mesozoic–Cenozoic aquifer of Yemen will be unable to support irrigation and the geothermal reservoir too will decline due to excessive withdrawal of water. A solution to this problem is to develop the geothermal resources around Damt and Dhamar to support desalination of the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden seawater to generate fresh water to contribute to the country’s food and energy security. Damt and Dhamar silicic volcanic sites have the potential to generate more than 134 × 106 kW of electricity. Fresh water generated through desalination using geothermal sources and wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) will give the country food and energy security and reduce dependence on food imports