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a b s t r ac tQatar is an arid land with very scarce natural freshwater resources. Its groundwater resources are limited and are being heavily depleted by inefficient irrigation methods and the growing population. As a result, Qatar relies primarily on desalination of seawater. Accurate assessment of water resources, consumption levels and virtual water trade is the first step in formulating an effective water resources management policy. This paper, hence, reviews the renewable and non-renewable water resources and the disaggregated consumption trends as well virtual water trade in Qatar. The total groundwater produced internally is 56 Mm /capita/year. We recommend that the water conservation efforts in Qatar should follow an integrated approach taking into account supply as well as demand side management.

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Using renewable energy to power seawater desalination technologies can reduce the environmental impacts of a process which is essential for global water security. However, the uneven geospatial distribution of renewable energy resources and regions of water scarcity results in unequal environmental benefits which creates uncertainty for global policy making. Hence, this study explores the relation between renewable energy resources, freshwater demand, and associated environmental impacts of desalination plants driven by renewable energy at a global scale using a comparative lifecycle assessment approach. We focus on an optimized solar-driven thermal desalination plant that we developed which can be used in seawater and brackish water treatment. By examining the life-cycle impact of the proposed plant in seven water-stressed cities, we found that the mean value for CO 2 emissions is 4.32 kg CO 2 eq./m 3 of desalted water which is 47% lower than conventional thermal desalination. There is a variation by as much as 80% and 95% in the climate change and water depletion, categories respectively across the selected cities. The multi-city analysis provides energy and water utilities, CSP project developers, and environmental authorities a global assessment of the environmental impact of solar desalination and sheds light on the correlation between solar intensity and seawater conditions on the overall environmental impact of this technology.

a b s t r ac tThe provision of clean drinking water is one of the greatest challenges in our time. Global population increase puts a lot of stress on current water desalination plants to meet the rising demand for freshwater and requires an increase in capacity. Conventional desalination plants are powered by fossil fuels and hence are a major cause of climate change as well as being unsustainable in the long term. There is a need to develop a sustainable desalination process, which does not contribute to climate change and is also economically competitive. Coupling solar thermal energy with the multi-effect distillation (MED) process is one of the most promising alternatives. This paper reviews extensively research on coupling solar thermal energy with MED from a technical and economic point of view. The MED process is discussed, the most suitable solar collectors are presented and various plant configurations are critically analyzed. The review highlighted the advances in knowledge obtained from experimental and modeling research studies. In addition, the main challenges in solar-driven MED such as storage, adaptability issues and cost are discussed. The review also provides general remarks about the literature and research gaps that should be addressed in the future.

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Scientific research in the engineering and technology domains plays a centric role in realizing sustainable development in Africa. In particular, a multidisciplinary research (and sometimes even cross-disciplinary) approach is required when tackling Africas complex challenges such as poverty, climate change, energy access, water resources management, energy-water-food nexus, sustainable urban environment, cybersecurity, and others. To advance this research, African researchers should be empowered to conduct high-quality research and communicate their findings and recommendations to all stakeholders in open-access platforms. Building on the above, the Sudanese Researchers Foundation (SRF) is proud to announce the launch of the African Journal of Engineering & Technology (AJET); our inaugural open-access peer-reviewed journal focusing on engineering, technology, and sustainable development.