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Abu Dhabi residents face threat of severe water shortage


Authorities warned that Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), the world's top water consumer, faces a severe water shortage, a report of the news site Emirates 24/7 said on Monday. A government report warned that the already meager ground water resources could run out over the next few decades if the consumption rates will remain high, Emirates 24/7 said.

An earlier report of Emirates 24/7 said UAE was the world’s largest water consumer, with the average per capita consumption standing at 500 liters per day, "nearly 82 per cent above the global average individual demand." The demand for water in the UAE, the second largest Arab economy, was about 4.5 billion cubic meters (bcm) in 2010. This is expected to double to nine bcm in 2030 "because of high consumption and population growth," the report added. On Monday, Emirates 24/7 cited a report of the Abu Dhabi Environment Authority (Adea) which said: “Domestic water consumption in Abu Dhabi surpasses natural water supply by nearly 26 times…this means that ground resources will totally be depleted within the next 20 to 40 years.”

UAE's official statistics for 2009 noted that Abu Dhabi’s total water supply was estimated at around 3.36 million cubic meters per year. This supply was sourced from:

  • natural resources (65 percent);
  • desalination (29 percent), and
  • recycling (6 percent).

“Failure to manage the use of water will boost demand by 122 per cent in 2030 and in the absence of sufficient ground resources, desalination plants could fail to meet that demand,” the report said. UAE has around 70 major water desalination plants. The report noted that desalination plants are not only high energy consumers but are also harmful to the environment.

The report said "these plants usually treat highly saline water in extremely hot weather conditions a large quantities of chemicals are disposed of into the sea during the process…this is directly affecting sea creatures and putting the already fragile ecological system in the Gulf under pressure.” Nearly 22,000 kilograms (kg) of chlorine and 300 kg of copper are dumped into the sea by desalination plants every day, it noted. These chemicals impede the “photosynthesis process” for algae, which form the basis of food chain for marine life, it added. - VVP, GMA News

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