KUWAIT CITY — An Iranian strike on a power and water desalination plant in Kuwait has highlighted the vulnerability of critical drinking water infrastructure across the Gulf as regional hostilities continue.Kuwaiti authorities said Friday’s strike damaged several power generation units and sparked a fire at the facility. The blaze was later contained, and emergency contingency plans were activated.The attack targeted one of Kuwait’s key sources of drinking water in a region that depends heavily on desalination to meet freshwater needs.About 90% of Kuwait’s drinking water is produced through desalination, while the technology supplies around 86% of Oman’s drinking water and roughly 70% of Saudi Arabia’s. Most plants use reverse osmosis, a process that removes salt from seawater.Hundreds of desalination plants are located along the Gulf coastline, placing facilities that supply water to millions of people within range of missile and drone attacks. Without them, many Gulf cities would struggle to sustain their populations.The latest strike follows months of attacks that have exposed the vulnerability of essential infrastructure across the region. Earlier in the conflict, Kuwait reported damage at the Doha West desalination plant caused by debris from intercepted drones or nearby attacks.Iran has also accused the United States of striking desalination facilities on Qeshm Island earlier this year, an allegation Washington has not acknowledged. Many Gulf desalination facilities are integrated with power plants, meaning damage to electricity infrastructure can also disrupt water production. Even limited damage to intake systems, treatment equipment or power supplies can halt operations.Security analysts have long warned that attacks on desalination infrastructure could trigger severe humanitarian and economic consequences. A 2010 CIA assessment warned that prolonged outages at major Gulf desalination plants could quickly develop into national crises, noting that the majority of the region’s desalinated water is produced by a relatively small number of strategically important facilities.In addition to conflict, experts say Gulf desalination plants also face growing risks from climate change, including storm surges, extreme rainfall and increasingly powerful cyclones.
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