UAE focuses on technology to meet rising water demand

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The UAE is focusing on technology innovation to meet the ever-increasing demand for safe drinking water by reducing costs and improving waste management in the desalination process, said the Minister for Energy.

Addressing the International Desalination Association (IDA) World Congress 2009 yesterday, Mohammed bin Dhaen Al Hameli said the world's third-largest producer of desalinated water is taking all possible measures to increase production.

Sheikh Majid bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Chairman of Dubai Culture and Arts Authority, inaugurated the congress.

"Desalination technology remains vexed with technical difficulties. We need to develop new designs for desalination plants, which are cost effective, technologically advanced and environmentally friendly. Therefore, it's imperative to exert more effort to surmount these difficulties through increase in co-operation between nations to enhance research activities," said Al Hameli.

He called for enhanced co-operation among nations in developing new technological applications to improve quality standards in the industry. "Water consumption is on the rise because of increased urbanisation, industrial development and population increase. To meet this challenge, we had no choice but to resort to desalination of seawater. Our production capacity in 2008 was more than a billion gallons of water per day, which is equivalent to 13 per cent of the capacity of desalination plants globally," he said.

Al Hameli said the UAE has achieved significant growth in the desalination process in terms of cost reduction, and gained extensive experience in operations and maintenance of plants.

Earlier, Sheikh Majid presented the IDA World Water Masters Award to Dr Farouk Al Baz, a renowned research professor and director of the Centre for Remote Sensing at Boston University, for his research work in groundwater storage and recovery.

Dr Rashid Ahmed bin Fahad, Minister of Environment and Water, highlighted the increasing problem of diminishing water resources caused by nature and development. He said there were more than 30 desalination plants operating in the country with a capacity of 1.3 billion cubic metres a year, which meet 98 per cent of the UAE's household and industrial water demand.

"Nevertheless, the demand for water remains high. Future projections indicate that demand will rise from five billion cubic metres now to seven billion cubic metres in 2020. In light of these forecasts, the Ministry of Environment and WaterMinistry of Environment and Water, in co-operation with its strategic partners, is working to develop strategies to maintain water resources and manage the demand to ensure sustainability," he said.

"Despite the advances in water desalination, the industry still faces technical, economic and environmental challenges, especially from the effects of rising temperatures. In order to mitigate climate change, the UAE has adopted the option of using nuclear and renewable energy in the desalination processes."

Federal ministers and senior government officials from the UAE as well as from other GCC countries attended the inaugural ceremony along with corporate leaders and industry experts from across the world.

By Sreenivasa Rao Dasari

© Emirates Business 24/7 2009