An increasing demand for water threatens the long-term future of the country, an expert told a conference in Bahrain.

Increases in population, agriculture and urbanisation are all draining the country's water resources, warned Arabian Gulf University academic affairs vice-president Professor Waleed Al Zubari.

However, he said the use of non-renewable water in agriculture was a major factor in depleting Bahrain's limited groundwater reserves.

'Much of our water is being used without knowing what will happen once the water is gone,' he said.

'We must weigh up our immediate gains from this water with the long-term impact.

'The GCC has invested in agriculture for food security, but it is mainly using fossil ground water, which is not renewable. We are practising agriculture like we are in a wet country, and we must change this.'

Professor Al Zubari made his comments at a three-day environment symposium that opened at the Crowne Plaza yesterday.

The 18th GCC-Japan Environment Symposium and Second Joint Bahrain Centre for Studies and Research (BCSR) - Japan Co-operation Centre Petroleum (JCCP) Environment Symposium is being held under the theme 'Environment and Water Resources for Our Future'.

It is organised by the BCSR in co-operation with the JCCP under the patronage of BCSR chairman Dr Mohammed Al Ghatam.

Professor Al Zubari told delegates that it was time for Bahrain and other Gulf countries to invest in research and development to address increasing water demands and escalating scarcity.

He claimed that instead of managing water consumption, most GCC countries had only looked at increasing the supply.

'The supply-driven approach to water management has failed and now there is a shift to demand management,' said Professor Al Zubari, who is also editor-in-chief of the Arab Gulf Journal of Scientific Research.

'We need an integrated approach where we take into account all aspects, including climate change and bio-fuels.

'We need sustainable water management and adequate quantity and quality, but it must be at a minimum financial and environmental cost.'

He warned that although desalination plants were being introduced to cope with increasing demand, they were a burden on the environment and simply adding more was not the answer.

'We are installing a lot of desalination plants, but the costs are a big burden on the national budget and there is no return because we have a subsidy system,' he said.

'It's not just about having more desalination plants we need to reduce consumption because they have an environmental impact, for example with marine and air pollution.

'These plants are still imported technology, there are no GCC desalination factories. We haven't got any indigenous technology and this technology doesn't employ a lot of people.

'If this is to become the future of the GCC then it must become a major sector in the region and be indigenised.'

He revealed 66 per cent of Bahrain's water supply comes from non-renewable groundwater, 29 per cent from renewable desalination plants and the rest from waste and used water.

In Bahrain, 45 per cent of water is used for agriculture, 49 per cent for domestic use and 6 per cent for industry. Professor Al Zubari was joined on the podium yesterday by Japanese Ambassador Hideo Sato, JCCP managing director Morihiro Yoshida and BCSR secretary general Dr Abdulla Al Sadiq.-TradeArabia News Service