For a city in the Arabian desert, Dubai is surprisingly well-watered. Grassy lawns and man-made duck ponds dot neighborhoods called The Springs and The Lakes. Across the United Arab Emirates, crowds flock to golf courses, water parks and synchronized fountains. Yet a water crisis is looming for the U.A.E. and its neighbors in the Persian Gulf region, one of the most water-stressed in the world. So far, Gulf Arabs have relied on fossil fuel-burning desalination plants to produce most of the water their swelling populations and expanding industries consume. Now they’re adopting cleaner technologies and starting to harness their abundant sunshine to make drinkable water from the sea. 1. How does seawater become drinkable? By the process known as desalination. Gulf Arab countries rely on desalinated seawater for most of their non-agricultural needs — from bottled water to residential plumbing. Saudi Arabia is the world’s biggest producer of desalinated […]