Options for water scarcity and drought management-the role of desalination

Recurring droughts across Europe have increased the awareness for the vulnerability of current water management systems at both national and EU level. While the European Commission contemplates concepts, member states are taking actions to cope with restricted availability of water resources. The paper presents a summary of drought planning activities of some water scarce regions. It can be shown, that all concepts include seawater desalination as key component of drinking water supply. Additionally, wastewater reuse plays another important role in mitigating water shortage. A more detailed analysis is given for Cyprus which shows that there is remarkable potential and the intention to combine the various elements of water savings, water reuse and exploring new water resources.