(MENAFN- Khaleej Times) Residential End Use of Water project ran for 18 months and involved the recruitment and smart metering of 150 medium sized villas.
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 — Waterwise which is part of the Abu Dhabi Regulation and Supervision Bureau has announced the results of its ‘Residential End Use of Water’ (REUW) project. The project is the first of its kind in the country and aimed to collect and analyse residential water use data.
The project ran for 18 months and involved the recruitment and smart metering of 150 medium sized villas from pre-selected gated communities in Abu Dhabi.
The results revealed at the International Water Summit (IWS) 2015 noted that the largest proportion of water use in these homes came from tap usage at 34.3 per cent. As a result future initiatives to reduce excessive tap usage would be required. Using showers contributed to 21.1 per cent of consumption toilet use 19.4 per cent and clothes washing 11 per cent. Homes that reported washing cars at home had a 13 per cent higher tap usage while homes that used dishwashers reduced tap usage by 2 per cent.
Khadija bin Braik head of Waterwise said “The residential sector in Abu Dhabi consumes around 50 per cent of the desalinated water produced for the emirate. Understanding when where and how water is used in a household can provide vital information for the development of effective water management strategies.”
The project achieved its goals of collecting accurate statistics of residential water use and determining the split between indoor and outdoor water-use in the Abu Dhabi environment. It also identified and explored the scale of water leaks.
“The project’s results and data will help inform decisions and strategies for future water management and conservation programmes in Abu Dhabi” added bin Braik.
haseebkhaleejtimes.com