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Dubai, UAE – Ecolab, the global leader in water, hygiene and energy technologies and services that protect people and vital resources, has hailed the UAE as the driving force to achieve water sustainability through digitization across the Gulf region.
That is the message from Arjan Boogaards, Ecolab’s Senior Vice President and President for the Middle East & Africa (MEA), who stressed that the UAE’s push for industrialization will require its public and private sectors to collectively utilize digital assets and data analysis to avoid large volumes of water wastage and safeguard the country’s immediate and long-term sustainability ambitions.
Boogaards’ revelations come amidst increasing global water sustainability concerns, with the UN World Water Development Report 2017 stating that 47 per cent of the global population will live in areas of high water stress by 2030, the same year when worldwide demand for water is predicted to exceed supply by 40 per cent.
“The Gulf region’s development of smart cities – most notably in the UAE and Saudi Arabia – must have sustainability at their core and it is certainly on the agenda. With the Middle East already boasting the world’s highest penetration of digital devices per capita, there is clear social readiness and commercial willingness to harness technology and data analysis to help deliver this,” said Boogaards, who oversees Ecolab’s regional businesses across MEA - including Nalco Water, Ecolab’s dedicated water management division.
“With the UAE population now topping nine million and recording one of the world’s highest per capita water consumption rates at 550 litres a day, the country faces obvious water management challenges. These include the scarcity of groundwater reserves, high salinity levels in existing groundwater, the high cost of producing drinking water, limited re-use of water, and limited collection and treatment of wastewater outside the urban areas. Digitization can significantly enhance water efficiency to meet future demand.”
As Dubai strides forward with its smart city aspirations, much of the technology powering the transformation will be Internet of Things (IoT) enabled devices and solutions; the UAE’s Internet of Things (IoT) market is set to more than triple to $35 billion by 2019, according to a report by MicroMarket Monitor. However, the huge influx of IoT-ready products will drive soaring levels of incoming traffic to data centers. With a typical (15MW) data center using 1.4 million litres of water per day, the region’s smart cities will place even greater demands on water availability.
“In this climate, maximizing the benefits of technology while preserving one of the world’s most precious resources is key to mitigating risks from water wastage and mismanagement,” said Boogaards, who believes seizing greater control of precious water resources in the Middle East through affordable technologies will deliver huge economic and development growth opportunities, adding that Ecolab can deliver greater understanding of where and how to effect tighter resource control through its Water Risk Monetizer.
The Water Risk Monetizer is the industry’s first publicly available financial modeling tool that enables businesses to factor current and future water risks into decision-making and - through a partnership with Microsoft and Trucost - now incorporates water quality into its site-specific risk analysis to provide a more comprehensive risk assessment.
“In essence the Water Risk Monitizer provides a risk-adjusted value for incoming and outgoing water that represents the full value of water to a business based on local demands and scarcity. This gives businesses actionable insights to make more sustainable business decisions,” explained Boogaards.
Ecolab, which was the first company in the world to receive Alliance for Water Stewardship Standard Certification for its manufacturing plant in Taicang, China, assists nearly three million companies across 170 countries in saving water and production costs through its cutting-edge range of digital tools. Ecolab’s 3D TRASAR® Technology for Membranes, for instance, has significantly reduced the total operational costs at a major Middle East bottled water production plant.
“Using our 3D TRASAR technology, which combines chemistry, remote services and sophisticated monitoring and control to improve a range of industrial operations, effective operation of the reverse osmosis unit restored treated water recovery to 85% of design levels. This increased the production of drinkable water by 10.8 million litres per year – the equivalent of nearly 11,000 peoples’ annual drinking water requirements – and cost savings of over USD160,000 per year,” explained Boogaards.
“By preventing membrane fouling and removing contaminants, we reduced cleaning requirements and associated down-time in machinery use – this adds up to increases in production and end profit. In a nutshell, we offer efficiency: clean and replace less, produce and profit more.”
In helping its customers save 611.7 billion litres of water in 2017, Ecolab’s influence on water savings impacts the full spectrum of sectors - food, healthcare, energy, hospitality, IT and industrial – all of which have been identified as key segments in the UAE’s Vision 2021 goals, added the Ecolab regional head.
“In every industry we serve, we leverage the same business model which combines best-in-class technology with world-class service capabilities. So, whether it's an oil platform, a restaurant, a hotel or a hospital, we have personalized in-unit service, designed to fully leverage the capabilities of our technology for our customers' benefit,” said Boogaards. “That's how we drive value. Additionally, we add value because, while we are in there, we train our customers’ teams. This upskilling is vitally important in the rapidly evolving Middle East markets.”
Water conservation and the inherent economic and competitive consequences are now within reach for the water-challenged Middle East through the use of digital and data technology, claims Boogaards.
“New technologies offer predictive data analytics to help companies improve visibility into their water use and also provide actionable insights to reduce, reuse and recycle water to minimize overall consumption. This is a win-win-win for all – the economy, environment and overall society.”
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About Ecolab
A trusted partner at nearly three million customer locations, Ecolab (ECL) is the global leader in water, hygiene and energy technologies and services that protect people and vital resources. With annual sales of $14 billion and 48,000 associates, Ecolab delivers comprehensive solutions, data-driven insights and on-site service to promote safe food, maintain clean environments, optimize water and energy use, and improve operational efficiencies for customers in the food, healthcare, energy, hospitality and industrial markets in more than 170 countries around the world. For more Ecolab news and information, visit www.ecolab.com.
Follow Ecolab on Twitter @ecolab, Facebook at www.facebook.com/ecolab, LinkedIn at Ecolab or Instagram at Ecolab Inc.
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© Press Release 2018