The demographically driven increased demands of the past 50 years have been unprecedented and forced the region into water deficit. Yet there has been no water war. Industry and especially services, are relatively minor users of water. Every additional mouth, however, needs over 1100 cubic meters of new water every year and it is agricultural water needs that present the impossible challenge for Middle Eastern economies. The watersheds, including groundwater, of the region cannot meet the irrigation requirements.
Virtual water is the water contained in the food that the region imports.
More water flows into the area as virtual water each year than flows down the Nile for Egypt's agriculture. The use of this virtual water obtained in the global trading system has enabled the political leaderships of the region to augment their respective inadequate water resources. The global trade in food staples has proved to be a very accessible and effective system. Politicians and resource managers find this source far more attractive than stressful, even potentially disastrous, wrangling over local water with hostile neighbors. The strategic imperative of providing food for citizens has been met through access to politically stress free virtual water.