There is a peculiar country in Asia, where there is almost no fresh water in its territory, but the people's lives are very rich
Located in the northwestern persian Gulf, Kuwait is a constitutional monarchy with an area of about 17,800 square kilometers and a total population of about 4.1 million.
The entire country of Kuwait is extremely scarce, there are no other water ecosystems such as springs, rivers and lakes in the territory, and even if there is a long coastline, it is impossible to use it directly and cannot be used for agricultural irrigation because the salt content is too high to be used directly or for agricultural irrigation, so water scarcity has become the norm in Kuwait.
At the same time, the country is located in the hot and arid Arabian Peninsula, with about 110ml of rainfall throughout the year, which at first glance is still passable, but compared with the evaporation of 2000ml in the country throughout the year, Kuwait is indeed "unable to make ends meet" and is extremely short of water.
Since heaven is not beautiful, what about groundwater? Unfortunately, this approach is also futile. Because Kuwait is close to the sea, the groundwater is naturally bitter and salty, and the crops are not yet adaptable, let alone human, so now, does the country's agricultural products need to be imported?
In fact, in the final analysis, kuwait's fate is still in its own hands. Historically, Kuwait was ruled by the Arab Empire, the Ottoman Empire and the British.
In 1961, Kuwait broke through layers of obstacles and obstacles, freed itself from British colonial rule, gained independence, and established its own country. Water scarcity is a drawback in the country, but it is still particularly fortunate compared to Niger and Ethiopia.
The reason for this is that Kuwait has a large number of energy resources, with oil reserves of more than 94 billion barrels, which is estimated to account for about 10% of the world's total.
Not only that, but Kuwait also has a large amount of natural gas. By relying solely on oil and gas trade, Kuwait has been able to pocket wealth from countries around the world, and the economic benefits from energy exports are greater than 45% of the country's total GDP.
With enough money to do things, Kuwait began to spend a lot of money to build a desalination plant, desalination of 280,000 tons of seawater per day, accounting for about 10% of the world's total freshwater.
Kuwait has divided this portion of the proceeds into two steps: the water plant will deliver clean fresh water to the tanks in residents' homes for bathing, and the other is to replenish drinking water in water dispensers in residential areas on a fixed date.
As a result, Kuwait's freshwater resources are used efficiently, water quality and utilization are guaranteed, and waste of water resources is largely avoided.
However, the tension of the situation is much more than that. No matter how powerful the desalination plants are, they still cannot solve the problem of water shortage in the country, after all, Kuwait has more than 4 million nationals, and the 280,000 tons of water provided by the desalination plants are only enough to feed more than 1 million people.
In desperation, the Kuwaiti government can only proceed from reality and lower its body to buy fresh water from neighboring Iraq. Iraq's dense water network, numerous rivers and exceptionally abundant freshwater resources in the Middle East are sufficient to meet the water supply of the country and solve the water shortage problem of Kuwait.
With Iraq's help, Kuwait could use large amounts of fresh water to replenish all its nationals and industrial sectors, although the purchase of water resources from neighbouring countries would require significant expenditure.
In addition, pipelines and distribution stations have to be built, but it is clear which is more important. And Kuwait, as a country where you can swim in oil pools, has enough financial resources to solve the problem of water procurement.
According to official statistics, as of 2018, Kuwait's per capita GDP was as high as $34,200, making it one of the richest countries in Asia.
However, Iraq is very resentful and dissatisfied with Kuwait, a country that is changing with each passing day, and in their view, if it were not for the constraints of the past, those rich oil resources would have been Iraq's.
If it had not been for Kuwait's independence, oil resources would not have flowed into the fields of outsiders, and it is thought that Iraq forcibly launched a war in 1990, annexing Kuwait and making it the 19th province.
Only then did the Gulf War break out, the United States intervene, and Iraq was defeated, after which Iraq was no longer in the wind, and it was its duty to buy and sell fresh water with Kuwait. In this way, Kuwait has money and water, and the happiness index of national life has risen all the way.
Misfortunes often accumulate in the slightest, while wisdom and courage are mostly trapped in drowning. Once people's lives are better, it is easy to indulge in pleasure, and only by thinking of danger in peace can we avoid the hard-won happiness that is not easy to send. Thus, even if the issue of water resources is solved, Kuwait remains meticulous in its use of water.
Almost every household in Kuwait has a water tank in front of its door, and the factory sends clean fresh water to the tank every day. In addition, there will be special people who will add drinking water to the water dispenser every once in a while, which is no different from before, so that it can save more water resources.
You can't do things with eggs in the same basket, so Kuwait sees the future situation very clearly: energy prices will fall. In order to avoid the disastrous consequences of this trend, the Government of Kuwait has focused its economic development on diversification.
For example, Kuwait built a large mosque in 1986, with a beautifully decorated area of 45,000 square meters, a dome of 43 meters high and a diameter of 21 meters, 72 pillars erected in the interior, and two minarets symmetrical to each other, 72 meters high.
The tower is inlaid with countless Syrian marbles, the top of the tower is covered with brass, very spectacular and luxurious, the main prayer hall and the side hall can accommodate 10,000 male worshippers and 950 female worshippers respectively, once, during ramadan, the whole temple inside and outside the temple a total of 180,000 worshippers.
Of course, there is also the National Museum of Kuwait, built in 1957, although many national treasures were plundered by Iraq during the Gulf War, but under the regulation of the United Nations, some national treasures have been put in place.
Nowadays, the museum has been renovated into a highly ornamental and touristic shrine containing Kuwait's rich national history, and it is believed that in the near future, Kuwait will be able to get rid of its own predicament and become stronger and stronger.
