(MENAFN- Khaleej Times) Environment Agency - Abu Dhabi proposes to prioritise water consumption maximise water usage efficiency and get everyone to stop wasting water.
The Environmental Agency Abu Dhabi’s stand at the exhibition held as part of Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week. -KT photo by Nezar Balout
Abu Dhabi: The Environment Agency - Abu Dhabi (EAD) wants no more desalination plants in the emirate with the emirate’s population and economy estimated to triple by 2020.
During the Water Summit on Tuesday part of Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week taking place in the capital until January 22 Razan Khalifa Al Mubarak secretary-general of EAD said it is time to switch from “business as usual” approach to solving sustainability challenges to tougher but necessary policies.
“Given the quite substantial costs involved in our current water production systems we should be leaders in water use efficiency but we are not and our track record on network water losses is also variable. According to the World Bank network water losses in Arab region varies from 15 per cent to 60 per cent” she pointed out.
“Based on the current reality of water scarcity in the Arab region which will only be further exacerbated by growing populations and dwindling ground water supplies and given the costs associated with the status quo including expensive and environmentally damaging reliance on desalinated water business as usual is not a satisfactory response. We need to do something different — we need business as unusual.”
Essentially what EAD proposes is to prioritise water consumption maximise water usage efficiency and get everyone to stop wasting water.
For years now Abu Dhabi and therefore UAE is the world’s largest water consumer in the world. While on average water consumption is considered to be around 250 to 350 litres per person per day UAE consumes between 550 to 900 litres per person per day!
Annually in Abu Dhabi emirate alone there are 3.3 billion cubic metres of water supplied most of it 65 per cent from natural ground water resources which are disappearing fast. In parts of the emirate especially the Eastern Region where most farms are ground water is nearly depleted yet 2198 million cubic metres are used every year most of it for agriculture.
With ground water running out and population growing the scenario so far was more desalination plants to be built. These though are an environmental menace as they dump salt residue back into the sea potentially killing marine life they consume a lot of energy and pollute the atmosphere with harmful carbon emissions.
By using treated waste water for agriculture and forestry reducing water consumption by increasing tariffs and prioritising water needs EAD hopes to not only drop water usage to an acceptable 350 litres per person per day but also avoid building new desalination plants.
“Take forestry for example. As of the end of last year EAD is mandated to manage all forests in the emirate about 2000 square kilometres. We are now studying soil salinity and temperatures conditions for these forests to establish exactly how much water they need for irrigation. We are committed to reduce water usage for forestry of up to 80 per cent” said Al Mubarak.
A partnership between EAD and the Abu Dhabi Sewerage Company will also enable farmers across the emirate to stop using ground water for their farms and use instead treated waste water for irrigation.
For now a pipeline has been approved to carry treated waste water all the way up to Ghantoot near Dubai and two more such pipes are being planned for Al Ain and Liwa.
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