Making a splash

A surge in population and the relative scarcity of water in the Middle East have made dealing with wastewater a high priority for regional governments, as HE Dr Rashid Ahmed Bin Fahad, UAE Minister of Environment and Water, explains.

“The UAE government is working to conserve water resources and to increase water sources by adopting a water rationalising policy for household, industrial and agricultural purposes”
-Dr Rashid Ahmed Bin Fayad

The issue of reusing wastewater has gained much importance in recent years due to the steady increase of population on the one hand and the sharp shortage of freshwater around the world on the other. In several countries, reusing water has become a fundamental part of the solution to the severe shortage in water resources.

In addition to the sanitary, environmental and economic benefits of reusing wastewater, it also plays an important role in mitigating pressure on other freshwater resources. However, the reuse of wastewater still lacks broad social acceptance and is confined to limited fields in many countries, creating an urgent need to carry out further studies and disseminate the advantages involved in using such types of water - especially in relation to the aspects of health, the environment and the economy.

The UAE government is working to conserve water resources and to increase water sources by adopting a water rationalising policy for household, industrial and agricultural purposes. We have also adopted a water tariff system and modern irrigation techniques, and embarked upon the construction of dams for replenishing groundwater with rainwater and the building of desalination plants and sewage treatment plants.

The United Arab Emirates has paid special attention to the sanitary drainage issue. In 1963 the UAE set up the first sewage treatment plant in Abu Dhabi, with a production capacity of 3400 cubic meters per day. To cope with the expansion of the urban areas and the spike in population, further treatment plants have been set up in the different emirates since that time; they now number 42 plants with a total capacity of 400 million cubic meters every year. It is expected that treated water quantities will increase in the near future as new plants come on line and the sanitary drainage nets are expanded in the different cities of the country. They will operate efficiently in accordance with the most modern techniques and methods, with water being tertiary treated to ensure conformity with international criteria.

The sanitary treatment plants have provided several benefits. They have turned our wastewater from a harmful environmental element into a beneficial one, provided an additional source of water at reasonable economical cost to the UAE (which suffers from scant water resources in view of its geographical location and the absence of surface water streams) and consequently reduces depletion of the groundwater.

The water issue, including the expanding field of wastewater use, has attracted great attention. The operational plan of the Ministry of Environment and Water includes an evaluation study of the current situation with regards to water resources and future demand. The plan and strategy for the water sector is also being modernised in the national environmental strategy. Furthermore, the adoption of green building standards will necessarily augment the efficiency of water use and widen uses of wastewater in the buildings implementing such standards.

Despite the fact that treated wastewater in the United Arab Emirates is only used for irrigating forests, parks, green belts and some species of plants that are used as food for animals, there are other fields in which such water can be used - for example, the cooling industry, recreation and fire fighting. Treated wastewater can even be used (at suitable levels) for irrigating other species of plants.

Although it is unwise to resort to using high quality water for purposes that can be done with water of lower quality, there are certain social and technological matters that need to be addressed before expanding the fields and purposes of using treated water. Such concerns should be dealt with earnestly on different levels, including the intensification of outreach programmes on the safety of using treated wastewater in more applications, and harnessing the expertise of other countries in this field. Although we believe in the importance of increasing water re-use in the projects of forestation and green covers, we stress the necessity of having the use of treated water controlled by clear environmental and sanitary standards and stringent control programmes to protect human health and safety.

Exchanging expertise, knowledge, scientific research and the most modern technologies being used in this field is of great importance in developing plans to use wastewater as a basic part of integrated water resources management. We believe that the private sector is our partner in this development process and has got a lot to offer.

HE Dr Rashid Ahmed Bin Fahad was speaking at the WastewaterTech 2009 conference in Abu Dhabi.