Abu Dhabi: The UAE suffers from a shortage of renewable water resources as a result of its location within the arid region belt, warned Mohammed Dawoud, Director of UAE Water Resources Management Department Environment Agency.
Dawoud said: "With the discovery of oil in the early 1960s, a development boom occurred in a variety of different sectors, and an increase in the rate of population growth led to high pressure on scarce fresh water resources and overuse of non-renewable ground water reservoirs to meet the increased demand for water resources."
He added: "This resulted in a significant decline in water levels and a deterioration of water quality in some areas of the UAE."
He highlighted the gaps between available water resources and demand.
Demand-supply gap
"With the increase in demand came a gap between available water resources and growing demand. To fill this gap, the government resorted to increased investment in non-conventional water sources, such as desalination and reuse of treated sewage water, despite their high cost and associated environmental impacts," said Dawoud. He said that there is a need to have a holistic approach to minimise the water consumption in the UAE.
"Our consumption of water is 2.4 billion cubic metres annually and we produce more than 740 million cubic metres of water and more than 500 million cubic metres of sewage water," said Dawoud.
"We only use 40 per cent of our sewage water and the 60 per cent is not used although it is treated for agricultural usages," explained Dawoud.
He asked the UAE to benefit from alternative resources to meet the future challenges.
