New British research suggests a solution to the problem of water shortages in the arid and semi-arid regions may lie in the concept of 'virtual water' - water which is available in the global trading system and is implicit in grain imports. Proffesor Tony Allan of the Water Issues Group at the School of Oriental and African Studies in London says in his project report, 'Virtual Water - A Long Term Solution For Water-Short Middle Eastern Economies' that the answer to water shortages is not to improve the technical and productive efficiency - rather, "economic systems, not the evidently inadequate hydrologicial systems" may be the key to a solution."