ANN ARBOR—In the arid and semi-arid Middle East, the availability of water is crucial for achieving a comfortable standard of living, and sometimes even for life itself. The pressure of population growth and urbanization has increased competition for the available water, and existing conflicts have added to the stress.

A recent international study confirms that water supplies in the Jordan basin “are barely sufficient to maintain a quality standard of living. The drought this winter could be a portent of an even drier future unless Israel, Jordan and the Palestinians work together to conserve shared water resources,” the study’s panel warned.

To address this threat to life in the Middle East, the University of Michigan’s Center for Middle Eastern and North African Studies will host a symposium on “Water Conflicts in the Middle East: Environmental Health and Socioeconomic Implications.” The all-day event on Speakers will include a wide variety of international scholars and scientists, including Hillel I. Shuval, professor at Hebrew University and co-editor of “Water and Peace in the Middle East.” Also speaking will be Jad Isaac of Al-Quds University who also serves as director-general of the Applied Research Institute in Jerusalem. Badri Fattal from Hebrew University, an expert in wastewater utilization in agriculture, and Mehmet Tomanbay of Gazi University in Ankara, Turkey, and author of “The Chess Game for the Future Usage of the Euphrates” will join them. Jamal El-Hindi, a U-M Law School graduate and attorney with Patton Boggs in Washington and author of “The West Bank Aquifer and Conventions Regarding Laws of Belligerent Occupation” also will speak.

Several professors from U-M’s School of Public Health and School of Natural Resources and Environment will also speak, including Jonathan Bulkley and Khalil Mancy.

Additional information about the program, its times, and the participants is available at http://www.umich.edu/~iinet/cmenas/water.html by calling Betsy Barlow at (734) 647-4142 or (734) 764-0350. The symposium is free and open to the public.

professor at Hebrew UniversitySchool of Public Healthhttp://www.umich.edu/~iinet/cmenas/water.html