Dubai: Wastewater from factories and other industrial units will now be treated and reused for irrigation, thanks to a new hazardous industrial wastewater treatment plant that has been launched by Dubai Municipality.
Dawoud Al Hajiri, director general of Dubai Municipality, said the plant is one of the pioneering projects implemented by Dubai Municipality at the Jebel Ali Hazardous Waste Treatment Complex.
“It is one of the innovative projects to enhance efforts in the transition to a green economy. The plant will be able to treat 600 cubic metres of liquid waste per day, using the latest technology and Artificial Intelligence,” said Al Hajri.
He said the plant has the capacity to treat various types of hazardous industrial waste, including acid and petroleum wastes, liquid wastes containing oils, fats and grease and effluents containing high percentages of heavy metals or toxic components.
Abdul Majeed Abdul Aziz Saifaie, director of Waste Management Department, said 75 per cent of the treated waste will be converted to water suitable for irrigation. In addition to that, it will be used for washing equipment and to meet the requirements of some other processing units in the facility, thereby greatly reducing the reliance on potable water.
When run to its full capacity, the plant can produce 450,000 litres of irrigation water in 24 hours.
Gulf News has learnt that the municipality, as per the current requirement, plans to operate it one shift per day, which can treat up to 200 cubic metres.
As per plan, the plant can produce about 150,000 litres of irrigation water in one shift.
The civic body said the plant is capable of achieving the highest hygiene and environment standards.
“The safe disposal of waste is a challenge to the competent authorities in various countries of the world, especially for hazardous waste, which may have an impact on human health and the environment, which calls for the development of plans and strategies for the disposal of these wastes in safe and appropriate ways that achieve the factors of sustainability and maintain the quality of life,” pointed out Al Hajiri.
He said the establishment of the plant is in line with the vision of His Highness Shaikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, and fulfils the environmental objectives of the National Agenda and the Dubai 2021 Plan.
“Today, we are moving towards the completion of Dubai’s waste management system, which will see major developments towards the goal of Dubai being free of all kinds of waste,” he added.
Best practices in place
According to Saifaie, the project was implemented after a careful study of the best international practices in this field and comparing different treatment systems and processes to enable the selection of the appropriate technology that matches the nature of hazardous industrial waste generated in the emirate.
“In addition, the station is equipped with an Artificial Intelligence system, which contains intelligent sensors capable of reading the quality of water entering the various units of the station,” he said.
This enables it to carry out the processes without any human intervention from the receipt of waste until the completion of the process of directing treated waste to storage units. “These technologies are in line with the Government of Dubai’s aspirations to spread the culture of smart government and complement Dubai Municipality’s efforts to highlight the smart projects, systems and modern technologies it provides to serve the community in various fields, especially infrastructure,” Saifaie said.
The sewage treatment plants in Warsan and Jebel Ali already have a combined capacity to treat about one million cubic metres of sewage waste water from Dubai houses and other buildings.
