This treatment and reuse approach has the additional benefit of requiring much less water in those areas where water is a scarce resource.

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The new process has obvious appeal in coastal areas where fresh water is scarce such as the Persian Gulf.

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The expansion of copper and gold mining in Chile and Peru has mainly occurred in arid areas and has led to competition for scarce water with both export agriculture and the needs of the indigenous population.

UNESCO: Urbanization, globalisation and climate change are creating new challenges to water management in the region of Latin America and the Caribbean. | United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization

With the population of the water-stressed south-east of England projected to grow by almost a quarter by 2035, Lord Smith argued that the number of smaller reservoirs needed to be increased immediately and that new ways of transferring water from areas where it is plentiful to areas where it is scarce must be established.

BBC: Science & Environment