Parts of Middle East at breaking point with power cuts and water supplies running out

Record temperatures have plunged parts of the Middle East into an energy crisis marked by 23-hour power cuts, failing healthcare systems and fuel-related protests. Years of warnings being ignored, resource mismanagement, corruption and climate change - combined with destabilising economic crises - have led to collapsing power grids and fuel shortages that are leaving businesses, hospitals and citizens in despair.

Lebanon ... in the midst of economic collapse and unable to afford fuel to power the electricity network, the power cuts from the national grid can last up to 23 hours a day. Food that people can already barely afford is spoiling in fridges, the lights have gone off in the airport and hospitals are rationing air-conditioning. The whole country is now effectively run by back-up generators, whose owners are struggling to find black market diesel.

Over the weekend Unicef warned that with the failure of the Lebanese power grid, the country’s water supply could collapse within a month, highlighting how tightly entwined the water and fuel sectors are in energy demand without investment in renewable energy for water pumping. "Unicef estimates that most water pumping will gradually cease across the country in the next four to six weeks", said Yukie Mokuo, a Unicef representative in Lebanon, adding that four million people, including one million refugees, are at immediate risk of losing access to safe water.

Protests have spread across Iran over the last week with demonstrators taking to the streets to cry "I’m thirsty" over severe droughts that have caused electricity blackouts and devastated agriculture and farming.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/parts-middle-east-breaking-point-204308062.html