WASHINGTON - The World Bank warned Thursday that people across the Middle East and North Africa region are facing "unprecedented water scarcity," warning of "negative consequences" on water quality as a result of this situation.

According to the World Bank report titled "The Economics of Water Scarcity in the Middle East and North Africa - Institutional Solutions," the amount of water available per capita annually in the region will decrease by the end of the current decade from "the absolute limit of water scarcity, which is 500 cubic meters per person per year." The World Bank predicted that "by 2050, an additional 25 billion cubic meters of water will be needed annually to meet the needs of the region. This is equivalent to establishing another 65 desalination plants, the size of the Ras Al-Khair plant in Saudi Arabia, which is the largest in the world in present time".

The report proposes a series of resource management reforms, as well as institutional reforms to mitigate water pressures in the region.

"Water shortages pose a serious challenge to life and livelihoods, as the agricultural sector and urban centers compete for this precious natural resource and its distribution systems," said Ferid Belhaj, World Bank Vice President for the Middle East and North Africa.

"A new approach is needed to address this challenge, including delegating more control to local authorities over how water distribution is managed," Belhaj stated.

According to the World Bank, the region's countries have already "made large investments in new infrastructure, in the past, such as storing water using dams, and have found ways to benefit from the large groundwater resources." However, the World Bank notes that "the expansionist approach to the development of water resources is now facing limits that will require countries to make difficult choices," noting that the current time is witnessing "an overexploitation of groundwater, which will have negative consequences for water quality, and will lead to Importing 'virtual water' has made countries vulnerable to global shocks."

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