Abu Dhabi, UAE: As per the information, Dubai will stockpile water for at least 90 days (3 months) in the case of an emergency. Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA) stated it has already commenced Aquifer Storage and Recovery project’s testing procedure on its new-build plant.
The firm authorities on Saturday cited, “This makes it the largest ASR of its kind in the world to store potable water & retrieve it in case of an emergency. This will help to ensure the Emirate with an additional source of potable water strategic reserve of 50MIGD for 90 days in emergencies while ensuring the quality of the stored water.”
The managing director of Dewa – Saeed Al Tayer, highlighting the significance of the project, cited this action will assure and help the nation to meet its rapidly growing demand for water.
“It helps to ensure meeting the rapidly growing demand for water across different areas in Dubai for all citizens, residents and visitors’, statement of the managing director notes. Work is also going on in two other reservoirs of Dubai – Nakhali and Lusaily. The government is planning to install more desalination plants in Abu Dhabi and Umm Al Quwain.
The study reveals that 90 percent drinking water of the United Arab Emirates is obtained from desalinated and treated seawater. This is so because the fresh groundwater is not “productive enough” for supplying it to the population.
The authorities then noted the ASR project initiated by Dubai’s DEWA has proven to be beneficial in increasing water’s sustainable production in the city, adding that it further helps in cleaning the solar power so as to ‘desalinate’ the seawater by utilizing the most delinquent reverse osmosis (RO) technologies.
Most of the water is stored in the aquifers, which is then, during times of need or emergency, is pumped back into the water network. The officials noted that the amount spent on this model is lower as compared to that of the traditional reservoirs.