Malaysian Journal of Sustainable Agriculture (MJSA)

Water shortage or scarcity is becoming a major concern for many nations across the world. The situation is worsened by rapid urbanization and population growth in developing countries, thus increase competition for water used for irrigated agriculture. Various efforts have been made by the authorities in the developing countries to provide sufficient water and improve the quality of water resources. Yet, there are still many developing countries facing shortages of water for domestic and agricultural purposes, especially during the dry months of the year. Libya is one of the Northern African countries that have been experiencing water shortages especially in urban areas. This paper aims to identify the current situation and constraints of water resources management in Libya. The latter part is devoted to the solutions and recommendations at individual, community, state and government levels that can help solving the water problems in Libya. A number of previous studies on the water resources management and challenges perceived by both developed and developing countries were critically reviewed. It was found that water scarcity in developing countries is expected to be worsen as their population are expected to increase gradually year by year and it can be summarized from the reviewed previous studies that lack of government planning, industrial and human wastes along with government intervention and mismanaging water resources are some of the critical constraints towards achieving sustainable management in most of the countries including Libya. Potential solutions such as improving supply demand and good quality management of water resources must be taken into consideration. In addition, active participation from the local residents by enhancing awareness amongst them would be one of the supportive strategies to minimize the constraints. Sustainable economic and environmental management together with efficient use of water is required to conserve our clean water supply.