00:00:05
look at this landscape an endless
00:00:08
scorched desert so blistering hot you
00:00:10
can see the air Shimmer with heat but
00:00:13
you know what right now you're actually
00:00:15
looking at a river or rather at a
00:00:18
project that's about to be called an
00:00:20
engineering Marvel and at the same time
00:00:22
it's going to change the life of an
00:00:24
entire country forever what's the catch
00:00:28
the thing is the water is undergound
00:00:30
ground and the project is about building
00:00:32
the world's largest artificial river
00:00:34
right in the middle of the desert Saudi
00:00:36
Arabia is planning to pour tons of fresh
00:00:38
water into the desert and it's up to us
00:00:41
to figure out what's going to come of
00:00:43
it meanwhile I'll pour myself some
00:00:52
coffee just an unobtrusive reminder to
00:00:55
do something under the video in case you
00:00:57
sometimes forget and thanks to the those
00:01:00
who well you know what for let's kick
00:01:03
things off with a story and a pretty
00:01:05
recent one for the past three decades
00:01:07
Saudi Arabia has been drilling wells in
00:01:09
search of a resource more valuable than
00:01:12
oil yes we're talking about fresh water
00:01:14
engineers and Farmers extracted its
00:01:16
hidden reserves to grow grain fruits and
00:01:18
vegetables in the middle of the desert
00:01:20
and it's no wonder as rain here is
00:01:22
scarce or completely absent and there
00:01:24
are no rivers or lakes for centuries
00:01:27
whether through Oasis or desalination
00:01:29
plans
00:01:30
Saudis have managed to find enough water
00:01:32
for their everyday needs but not so long
00:01:35
ago Nationwide efforts changed the
00:01:37
desert and now they need even more water
00:01:39
the Saudi scenery now has Farmland
00:01:41
brought to life by underground water
00:01:44
massive buildings next to the fields
00:01:46
house tens of thousands of dairy cows
00:01:48
that rely on Cooling and water like I
00:01:50
said this water's pumped from
00:01:52
underground from aquifers that filled up
00:01:54
thousands of years ago back when the
00:01:56
climate in Saudi Arabia was a lot wetter
00:01:59
back in the the 1970s the government
00:02:01
made a big effort to find such aquafers
00:02:03
and figure out how much water they could
00:02:05
hold then it drilled tens of thousands
00:02:08
of deep Wells and areas with the best
00:02:10
potential for urban and agricultural use
00:02:13
but since then a lot has changed in fact
00:02:15
Saudi Arabia's water sector is seen just
00:02:18
as massive Transformations as the rest
00:02:20
of the country and one of the key
00:02:21
players in this shift has been a company
00:02:23
turning seawater into freshwater up
00:02:26
until 1994 water use in Saudi Arabia was
00:02:29
totally free for households and it was
00:02:31
only after that they decided to
00:02:33
introduce a small modest fee but the fee
00:02:36
was really minimal so with generous
00:02:38
government subsidies for water the
00:02:39
country quickly expanded its irrigated
00:02:42
areas in 1980 the volume of water
00:02:44
consumed in the country was about 2
00:02:46
trillion gallons and by 1994 this amount
00:02:49
had almost tripled the figure reached 5
00:02:52
trillion
00:02:53
gallons this is what irrigation canals
00:02:56
look like in Saudi Arabia delivering
00:02:58
fresh water from Deep Wells and
00:03:00
desalination plants to farms and homes
00:03:02
these are literally Rivers running
00:03:04
through the desert in modern Saudi
00:03:07
Arabia there are basically two sources
00:03:09
of water for the population the sea
00:03:11
which is desalinated in deep Wells the
00:03:14
country uses twice as much water per
00:03:16
person is the world average 69 gallons
00:03:18
per person per day and this number is
00:03:21
increasing due to climate change for a
00:03:23
country that's in the middle of a desert
00:03:25
this is especially concerning because
00:03:28
the water is running out when intensive
00:03:32
modern farming first began there was an
00:03:33
astonishing 132 trillion gallons of
00:03:36
water under the desert of Saudi Arabia
00:03:38
enough to fill Lake Erie in the US but
00:03:41
every year 5.5 trillion gallons of water
00:03:44
were pumped out of there and that could
00:03:46
only end badly because the aquafers
00:03:48
mostly replenish through rain and it
00:03:51
hardly ever rains as a result the Saudis
00:03:54
have gone down a path that led them to
00:03:56
use at least 105 trillion gallons of
00:03:59
their aqua by 2008 that is 4 fths of the
00:04:02
underground water in Saudi Arabia has
00:04:04
been used this means that one of the
00:04:07
largest and oldest freshwater resources
00:04:09
on the planet and one of the hottest and
00:04:11
driest places was almost drained in just
00:04:14
one generation one of the groundwater
00:04:16
experts in Saudi Arabia predicted back
00:04:18
in 2016 that there would only be enough
00:04:21
water left in the Kingdom for another 13
00:04:23
years a truly alarming Trend to
00:04:27
understand how the country's attitude
00:04:28
towards water is changed changed you can
00:04:30
look at this graph after 2015 total
00:04:33
consumption started to decrease because
00:04:36
less water was used in agriculture the
00:04:38
drop is especially noticeable after 2019
00:04:41
when the government programed to reduce
00:04:43
feed Crop Production started in March
00:04:45
2019 the quatra program was launched
00:04:48
requiring citizens to drastically cut
00:04:50
water consumption its goal is to limit
00:04:53
water use to 53 Gall per person per day
00:04:56
by 2020 and to 40 gallons by 2030
00:05:00
that's 26 gallons less than was used
00:05:02
before back in 2000 the Saudi Arabian
00:05:05
government took steps to reduce water
00:05:07
consumption by cutting subsidies at the
00:05:09
same time the population was encouraged
00:05:11
to use water saving Technologies like
00:05:14
drip irrigation and soil moisture
00:05:16
measurement tools this well kind of
00:05:18
helped at least it led to the gradual
00:05:20
decline of the wheat farming industry
00:05:23
from producing 4 million tons in 1992 to
00:05:26
1.8 million tons in 2000 by 2016 uction
00:05:29
had stopped today about 50% of drinking
00:05:32
water comes from desalination plants 40%
00:05:36
from extracting non-renewable
00:05:37
groundwater and only 10% from surface
00:05:40
water in the mountainous Southwest of
00:05:41
the
00:05:42
country but the problem hasn't gone away
00:05:45
even though Saudi Arabia's agriculture
00:05:47
uses drip irrigation and hydroponics
00:05:49
which increase water efficiency it's
00:05:52
still not
00:05:54
enough and that's when it appears the
00:05:56
largest artificial river in the world
00:05:59
the planet involves digging a channel
00:06:01
that will stretch 7500 M long 36 ft wide
00:06:05
and 13 ft deep the goal of all this is
00:06:08
to surpass the Nile and surpass it for
00:06:10
sure the famous Egyptian river is
00:06:13
4,130 MI long this ambitious project
00:06:16
will require the use of corrosion
00:06:18
resistant pipes each with a diameter of
00:06:21
7.4 ft and people plan to transport
00:06:24
fresh water through them from one place
00:06:25
to another if the project is completed
00:06:28
this network will become one of the
00:06:29
largest in the world because it won't
00:06:32
just be one River the pipes laid under
00:06:34
Saudi cities will stretch for
00:06:36
78,3 Miles enough to wrap around the
00:06:40
world three times at the Equator the
00:06:42
amount of water passing through the
00:06:44
rivers would be such that if it were
00:06:46
spread out among the world's population
00:06:48
everyone would get 2 gallons if you're
00:06:50
wondering why Rivers need to be
00:06:52
channeled underground whether in Libya
00:06:54
or Saudi Arabia the answer is simple
00:06:57
temperature summers in Saudi Arabia are
00:06:59
are incredibly hot and dry the
00:07:01
temperature ranges from 81° F to 109° F
00:07:05
in the Inland areas and from 81° F to
00:07:09
100° F on the coast as I've said before
00:07:12
the rainfall situation isn't any better
00:07:15
in most areas the annual amount doesn't
00:07:17
exceed 6 in throughout the year except
00:07:20
for the southwestern part where 16 to 24
00:07:23
in of rainfall annually although water
00:07:26
evaporation is a natural process it can
00:07:28
happen at different speeds depending on
00:07:30
the weather conditions and Saudi Arabia
00:07:33
this speed is really high that's why
00:07:35
along with the extremely low amount of
00:07:37
rainfall the kingdom is one of the
00:07:38
driest countries in the world that's why
00:07:41
it's a pretty smart idea to hide the
00:07:43
water underground away from the Sun heat
00:07:45
and wind just try to protect this
00:07:47
precious resource from evaporation as
00:07:49
well as any other harmful effects the
00:07:52
project is really important for the
00:07:54
country Saudi Arabia's economy heavily
00:07:56
depends on the oil sector in recent Rec
00:07:59
years oil has accounted for about 40% of
00:08:02
Saudi Arabia's GDP the kingdom ranks
00:08:05
second in proven oil reserves and fourth
00:08:07
and proven natural gas reserves plus
00:08:10
it's the largest oil exporter in the
00:08:12
world other key sectors of the economy
00:08:14
include oil refining and chemical
00:08:16
production based on oil reserves and for
00:08:19
a long time this was a perfectly working
00:08:21
scheme that ensured the country's
00:08:23
prosperity in 2022 its oil export
00:08:26
revenues were $311 billion that's almost
00:08:29
times more than Iraq and the UAE who are
00:08:32
in second and third place and dozens of
00:08:34
times more than all other countries oil
00:08:36
makes Saudi Arabia incredibly Rich
00:08:39
however the world's changing and it's
00:08:41
currently on the path to gradually
00:08:42
moving away from oil and gas if it
00:08:45
doesn't adjust to these changes the
00:08:47
country's economy could end up in a very
00:08:49
vulnerable position understanding this
00:08:51
in 2016 the Saudi Arabian government
00:08:54
launched the Saudi Vision 2030 program
00:08:57
aimed at reducing dependence on oil and
00:08:59
diversify in economic resources however
00:09:01
by 2022 the country had only achieved
00:09:04
modest results but if Saudi Arabia has
00:09:07
unlimited drinking water it'll give the
00:09:09
country hope of reaching its long
00:09:11
awaited goal feeding itself instead of
00:09:13
importing food from other countries and
00:09:16
of course the country will stop
00:09:18
depending on oil today Imports cover 80%
00:09:21
of Saudi Arabia's food needs only 20% of
00:09:23
food is produced locally this is
00:09:25
actually a common situation in countries
00:09:27
with dry climates on average the
00:09:29
countries of the gulf cooperation
00:09:31
Council import 90% of their food from
00:09:34
other countries for example Qatar
00:09:36
Imports as much as 97% followed by bin
00:09:40
with 92% and Kuwait Imports
00:09:43
91% so Saudi Arabia is actually doing
00:09:46
fairly well but food prices have been
00:09:48
going up lately so it's really important
00:09:50
for the country to start producing food
00:09:52
on its own they'll have to start with
00:09:54
water which they'll get straight from
00:09:56
the sea desalination is a Dependable
00:09:58
water source doesn't rely on rainfall
00:10:01
they take sea water remove the salt and
00:10:03
impurities and end up with drinking
00:10:05
water they're to desalination processes
00:10:08
and the first one is reverse osmosis
00:10:11
first seawaters pumped into the
00:10:12
desalination plant and under go
00:10:14
pre-filtration to remove most of the
00:10:16
particles usually the intake pipes are
00:10:18
located at the bottom of the sea far
00:10:20
from Shore the flow speed of the sea
00:10:23
water entering the intake tunnels quite
00:10:25
low Less Than 3 ft per second and much
00:10:27
lower than the ocean current in the area
00:10:30
this allows the local marine life to
00:10:32
swim out of the tunnel and avoid getting
00:10:34
into the plant so the already filtered
00:10:36
seawaters pass through special membranes
00:10:38
under high pressure the pores in the
00:10:40
membranes are so tiny that salt bacteria
00:10:43
viruses and all sorts of super tiny
00:10:45
impurities are separated from the water
00:10:47
basically these membranes work like
00:10:49
microscopic filters as a result of the
00:10:51
reverse osmosis process about half of
00:10:54
the water that comes into the plant from
00:10:55
the sea turns into fresh water the salt
00:10:58
and impure removed from it or then
00:11:00
return to the ocean through diffusers
00:11:03
this ensures quick mixing of the Seline
00:11:05
concentrate so it doesn't affect the
00:11:07
marine environment after that the
00:11:09
purified water is treated to meet
00:11:11
drinking water standards unlike reverse
00:11:14
osmosis which uses semi-permeable
00:11:16
membranes to filter out salt and other
00:11:18
impurities The multi-stage Flash
00:11:20
distillation method works by changing
00:11:22
temperature and pressure the term flash
00:11:24
refers to Rapid evaporation caused by a
00:11:27
sharp drop in pressure and this process
00:11:29
process is repeated at different stages
00:11:31
hence that's basically where the name
00:11:33
comes from at each stage salty water is
00:11:35
exposed to steam heat and reduced
00:11:37
pressure this causes part of the water
00:11:40
to quickly evaporate or Flash into steam
00:11:43
which is essentially fresh water the
00:11:45
remaining salty solution is called brine
00:11:48
in general if we simplify the whole
00:11:50
process it's about evaporating salty
00:11:52
water to get fresh steam everything else
00:11:55
is just details and it's also important
00:11:57
to mention that Saudi Arabia is already
00:12:00
the world leader in desalinated Water
00:12:02
Production the country produces over 264
00:12:05
billion gallons per year which makes up
00:12:07
18% of the global output this is mainly
00:12:10
thanks to the Seline water conversion
00:12:12
Corporation a state controlled
00:12:14
organization that's basically
00:12:15
responsible for fresh water the
00:12:17
desalination plants of the corporation
00:12:19
located on the East Coast Produce 130
00:12:22
billion gallons of water while the
00:12:24
coastal stations produce 135 billion
00:12:27
gallons these two regions together
00:12:30
account for a total of 264 billion
00:12:32
gallons of water per year in addition 27
00:12:36
desalination plants operating in the
00:12:38
country generate a total of 24,
00:12:42
888487 megawatt hours of
00:12:45
electricity quite a nice bonus however
00:12:48
despite its leading position in
00:12:49
desalination Saudi Arabia is facing
00:12:52
challenges for obvious reasons
00:12:54
desalinating sea water has long been
00:12:56
considered the solution to the
00:12:58
increasing risk of water shortages in
00:12:59
the Middle East however the industry
00:13:01
involves high energy consumption in 2016
00:13:04
desalination made up 3% of the Middle
00:13:07
East Water Supply but 5% of its energy
00:13:09
costs turning sea water into freshwater
00:13:12
is really costly they even estimated
00:13:14
that desalinating seawat takes four
00:13:17
times more energy than collecting
00:13:19
groundwater moreover desalination plants
00:13:21
harm the environment by releasing
00:13:23
pollutants into the air and threatening
00:13:25
marine ecosystems with their
00:13:27
waste I said that efforts are made to
00:13:30
minimize this damage but it still
00:13:32
persists and the Ecology of our planet
00:13:34
is already in bad shape but if
00:13:36
desalination is that bad with so many
00:13:38
downsides how is the country planning to
00:13:41
turn an incredible amount of water into
00:13:43
fresh water for the underground
00:13:44
artificial River it's simple it'll use
00:13:47
the
00:13:49
sun this sounds like a plan suitable for
00:13:52
Desert dwellers desalinate water with
00:13:54
sunlight well almost Saudi Arabia became
00:13:57
the first country to Launch a commercial
00:13:59
solar powered desalination plant alof G
00:14:02
is the world's largest desalination
00:14:04
project using solar energy providing the
00:14:07
region with water in an Innovative and
00:14:09
most importantly sustainable way
00:14:11
launched back in 2018 the desalination
00:14:14
plant in alofi is a groundbreaking
00:14:16
system that turns salty water into clean
00:14:19
drinking water and generates clean
00:14:21
energy for the kingdom the capacity is
00:14:23
quite impressive up to 24 million
00:14:25
gallons of pure water a day thanks to
00:14:28
this plant it's been possible to cut
00:14:30
down on crude oil consumption and reduce
00:14:32
CO2 emissions into the atmosphere in
00:14:35
recent years the use of renewable energy
00:14:37
sources like solar power to run
00:14:39
desalination plants has become a top
00:14:41
priority it makes sense plus it aligns
00:14:44
with what the rest of the world is doing
00:14:46
and Saudi Arabia definitely doesn't want
00:14:48
to be left behind in
00:14:53
anything the biggest news in the past
00:14:55
few days is that I finally got a good
00:14:57
sleep at last
00:15:00
profitable
00:15:02
energy by the way a few more words about
00:15:05
solar energy in Saudi Arabia electricity
00:15:08
generated this way has dropped to its
00:15:09
lowest cost making solar power even more
00:15:12
accessible to a wider range of consumers
00:15:15
moreover on June 6th 2024 it was
00:15:18
announced that the country set a new
00:15:19
world record for the lowest cost of
00:15:21
electricity generated from solar
00:15:23
photovoltaic sources 1 megawatt hour
00:15:26
cost
00:15:27
$10.40 and in fact this is not
00:15:29
surprising as Saudi Arabia has
00:15:31
everything needed for green energy to
00:15:33
spread widely and cheaply key factors
00:15:35
include favorable economic conditions
00:15:37
attractive investment opportunities the
00:15:39
lowering cost of solar panel components
00:15:42
and low labor costs and yes don't forget
00:15:44
about the climate Saudi Arabia simply
00:15:47
has enough Sun to produce solar power
00:15:49
and the country of course has no plans
00:15:51
of stopping with this achievement it's
00:15:54
expected that by 2030 Saudi Arabia will
00:15:56
be in the top three leaders in solar
00:15:59
energy capacity forecast predict that by
00:16:01
the middle of the 21st century renewable
00:16:03
energy sources including water solar and
00:16:05
wind power will account for up to 70% of
00:16:08
the energy production mix in the Middle
00:16:10
East this is a significant increase
00:16:12
compared to the current 5% recorded by
00:16:14
the end of
00:16:15
2023 and it's hard not to be pleased
00:16:18
about that what did the other 95%
00:16:21
consist of of course it was fossil fuels
00:16:25
yes natural gas and oil are playing a
00:16:27
key role in the economy right now but
00:16:30
all resources eventually run out that's
00:16:32
why Saudi Arabia is thinking about the
00:16:34
future and starting from 2030 Everything
00:16:37
Will
00:16:38
Change the wrong
00:16:41
Rivers now let's get back to the topic
00:16:43
of water in Saudi Arabia and see if
00:16:46
there's anything else interesting there
00:16:48
and there really is in this country
00:16:50
rivers flow the other way around
00:16:52
literally the rivers start from the sea
00:16:54
and rise up to the mountains of course
00:16:56
this wouldn't be possible without human
00:16:58
help but how many places do you know
00:17:00
where you can see something like that
00:17:02
we're talking about a unique
00:17:03
infrastructure featuring massive
00:17:05
pipelines that stretch across the
00:17:06
country to distribute desalinated water
00:17:09
they even earned a spot in the Guinness
00:17:10
World Records as the largest water
00:17:13
distribution system in the world and
00:17:15
it's totally deserved since the total
00:17:17
length of the pipelines is over 8,700
00:17:20
mil and that's just the pipelines the
00:17:22
whole water distribution system covers
00:17:24
more than 81,000 mil meanwhile the water
00:17:28
collection Network spans over 31,000 Mi
00:17:32
because of this extensive network even
00:17:34
far off areas can develop relying on
00:17:36
plentiful and affordable Water Resources
00:17:39
sounds pretty
00:17:40
Innovative borrowed
00:17:43
water no matter how impressive the water
00:17:45
desalination projects are in Saudi
00:17:47
Arabia it's still not enough so the
00:17:50
country let's say makes use of someone
00:17:53
else's water since 2014 a Saudi Arabian
00:17:56
company called fondom has been tapping
00:17:58
in into underground water in the desert
00:18:00
west of Phoenix Arizona naturally this
00:18:03
has raised concerns among the local
00:18:04
population a study conducted by Arizona
00:18:07
Central revealed that the company
00:18:08
fondomonte has a unique Advantage by
00:18:11
paying just $25 for one acre per year it
00:18:14
has the right to use local Water
00:18:16
Resources without restrictions these
00:18:18
terms are several times more favorable
00:18:20
than those of local farmers so why not
00:18:23
take advantage of
00:18:24
them yes it's incredibly beneficial but
00:18:27
according to the locals the state water
00:18:29
should be used only for the benefit of
00:18:31
Arizona residents not some foreign
00:18:35
companies wait a minute what's a company
00:18:37
from Saudi Arabia even doing in the US
00:18:40
the thing is fondante has been actively
00:18:43
acquiring land in the southwest of the
00:18:45
US to grow Alfalfa hundreds of thousands
00:18:47
of acres in Arizona are already owned by
00:18:50
the company and recently they expanded
00:18:52
their operations to Eastern California
00:18:54
what does the US government say in
00:18:56
response to the protest by local people
00:18:59
well the Arizona state land Department
00:19:01
which leased the land of the company
00:19:02
fondante is silent about how much water
00:19:05
is being extracted this is exactly
00:19:07
what's raising concerns about the
00:19:09
possible depletion of groundwater which
00:19:12
by the way is quite Justified Saudi
00:19:14
Arabia itself ran into trouble with
00:19:16
depleting underground water supplies due
00:19:18
to uncontrolled water withdrawal
00:19:20
research from 2004 showed that the
00:19:22
Kingdom's Water Resources were nearly
00:19:24
drained after big land owners used
00:19:26
Artisan Wells for 30 years Without
00:19:29
Limits as of now around half of the
00:19:31
water used in the country is produced at
00:19:33
desalination plants a process that
00:19:36
involves heavy costs and energy this is
00:19:39
why Saudi Arabia reached out to the US
00:19:41
with a mutually beneficial offer which
00:19:43
Sparks plenty of questions and
00:19:47
controversies toxin
00:19:50
problem I just said that Saudi Arabia is
00:19:52
doing a good job and setting an example
00:19:54
for other countries but there's also a
00:19:57
lot of bad stuff going on in in this
00:19:59
country the world's top oil exporter is
00:20:01
just polluting everything around it as
00:20:03
I've mentioned before the desalination
00:20:05
plants providing water to the kingdom
00:20:07
produce a huge amount of waste which
00:20:09
contains chemicals and threatens to
00:20:11
contaminate the food chains just think
00:20:13
about it every day Saudi Arabia releases
00:20:16
1.1 billion cubic feet of waste in the
00:20:18
form of concentrated brine which poses a
00:20:21
serious environmental threat and by the
00:20:23
way there are about 16,000 such plants
00:20:26
operating worldwide they're combined
00:20:28
waste could cover an area the size of
00:20:30
Florida with a 12-in layer of toxic
00:20:32
brine every year and that's just awful
00:20:36
but where do all these waste products
00:20:38
come from if essentially salt water is
00:20:40
just being turned into freshwat the
00:20:42
thing is the conversion process leads to
00:20:44
the creation of waste water contaminated
00:20:46
with chemicals like chlorine and copper
00:20:49
according to the UN for every. 3 gallons
00:20:51
of fresh water produced about4 gallons
00:20:54
of polluted brine is generated usually
00:20:56
all of this is dumped into the ocean but
00:20:58
you understand that it doesn't go
00:21:00
without consequences right such actions
00:21:02
lower the oxygen levels in the water and
00:21:04
have a negative impact on living
00:21:06
organisms so all we can do is hope that
00:21:08
scientists will do research and figure
00:21:10
out how to turn the problem into an
00:21:12
Economic
00:21:14
Opportunity although I really doubt
00:21:16
anyone needs polluted
00:21:18
water you owe me an unobtrusive like see
00:21:22
you later
