No drainage systems are reported to exist. The successful and sustainable exploitation of the water resources in Yemen is threatened. The most serious and obvious problem is the rapid depletion of groundwater resources. Almost all the important groundwater systems in Yemen are being over-exploited at an alarming rate. The socio-economic consequences of groundwater resources depletion are dramatic since groundwater will become too expensive for use in agriculture and, as a result, regional agricultural economies based on groundwater irrigation are doomed to collapse if the water resources are not adequately controlled.
Environmental degradation occurs, for example in areas where springs have dried up.
There is an increasing awareness in Yemen of groundwater depletion. The Government of Yemen has committed itself to a sustainable use of the water resources, which was reiterated in an official statement issued at the UN Conference on Environment and Development of 1992 in Rio de Janeiro. Water resources management in the country suffers because there is no unified central decision-making organization. Several authorities are dealing with water related affairs with minimum integration and coordination. Population and housing census, December 1994.