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The earth's surface is 71% water, but the Middle East and North Africa have access to barely any of it. The region is the most water scarce in the world, home to just 1% of the world's freshwater resources. Countries in the region are withdrawing ground water at a rate faster than it can be replenished, and most of the water is for agriculture. Many countries are producing their own water from seawater through a process known as desalination. Approximately 75% of the world's desalinated water in produced in the Middle East/North Africa region. More than 300 million people around...

Scientists in China have developed several types of rice that can be grown in seawater, potentially creating enough food for 200 million people. Researchers have been trying to grow the grain in salty water for decades but have only now developed varieties that could be commercially viable. The rice was grown in a field near the Yellow Sea coastal city of Qingdao in China’s eastern Shandong province. 200 different types of the grain were planted to investigate which would grow best in salty conditions.  Sea water was pumped into the fields, diluted and then channelled into the rice paddies. The...

CAITLIN DICKERSON OCT. 12, 2017 SAN JUAN, P.R. — After a day spent working in an office in the dark, without air-conditioning, Iris Díaz arrived at her neighborhood CVS drugstore desperate for what has quickly become one of the most sought-after items in Puerto Rico: bottled water. A sales clerk standing behind the checkout counter explained that the store had been out of stock for three days. “Ni una sola botellita?” Ms. Díaz pleaded in Spanish. “Not even one little bottle?” The employee shook her head and apologized. Three weeks after Hurricane Maria tore through Puerto Rico, the challenge of finding enough water...