UAE to implement first 'water conservation law'

Water: The most valuable resource

Water is crucial for a country's development; literally trillions of gallons of water per year are used for drinking, growing food, generating electricity and to run power stations and homes. However, this valuable resource is often wasted misused and wasted. In the UAE, it is of such a concern that the region's first water conservation law is under final review with the aiming of getting it passed in the next 12 months in full flow.

Currently, the UAE doesn't have any form of water conservation regulation and such matters are handled on a local regional level. As such, water resource researchers are calling for more monitoring of environmental impacts on the UAE's main source of water, the Arabian Gulf.

Speaking at a seminar, Dr Rashid Ahmad Bin Fahd, UAE Minister of Environment and Water said he hoped that the new law would lay out a firm legal mechanism for the management and use of water in the country.

"The water law is under process, and has been seen by the ministerial committee and a technical committee. The draft should be sent to the Cabinet before the summer. It could be one more year before it is passed," he said.

"It is needed, there are a lot of local orders, but this will be the first legal document for an integrated management system."

All encompassing law

Once the law is passed, regional utility companies such as Dubai Electricity and Water Authority would fall under its authority and would have to regulate their production and distribution of water accordingly.

Unsurprisingly, wasting water is frowned upon in the arid Middle East and is considered a major resource for the prosperity of the region.

"The Arab region is one of the scarcest regions in the world for water supply. No one has surplus water, which does not inspire a lot of confidence… [but] the UAE has achieved a lot in securing water and providing supply for the country," said Bin Fahd.

However increased prosperity in the UAE has brought with it increased demand. Rising demand and an ever increasing population has seen water needs rise from 1081 million cubic metres in 2000 to 2008 of 4878 million cubic metres in 2008.

To makes matters worse, the construction of dams built on the Tigris and Euphrates rivers has decreased the amount of fresh water in the Arabian Gulf from 85 billion cubic metres in the 1980s, to around 28 billion cubic metres today.

If the Gulf becomes more salted and polluted, desalination would have massive impacts on the environment producing 40 to 180 million tonnes of CO2 a year, while co-generation electricity and water plants would produce an additional 21 million tonnes equivalent of carbon emissions a year.

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Timon Singh

Timon Singh is a graduate of Liverpool University where he received a degree in Social and Economic History. He has previously worked for BBC Magazines on BBC Who Do You Think You Are? Magazine, the publication for the popular genealogy show.

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