Dubai: To enhance water security, Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (Dewa) is increasing the storage capacity of desalinated water in Dubai. To achieve this target, Dewa is building three water reservoirs in different parts of the emirate with a total storage capacity of 210MIG and investments of Dh550 million, the authority announced today.
The reservoir in the Al Nakhali area has a storage capacity of 120MIG and has been built at an investment of Dh287.8 million, the one in Al Lusaily area has a storage capacity of 60MIG and involves an investment of Dh175.4 million, while the one in Hatta has a storage capacity of 30MIG, built at a cost of Dh86 million.
“Water security is a national priority for the UAE and is one of the seven strategic sectors of the National Innovation Strategy,” said Saeed Mohammed Al Tayer, Managing Director and CEO of Dewa. He pointed out that the UAE Water Security Strategy 2036 aims to ensure sustainable access to water during both normal and emergency conditions as well as address future water security challenges. The Dubai Integrated Water Resource Management Strategy 2030 focuses on enhancing water resources and using cutting-edge technologies and innovative solutions, Al Tayer said.
“At Dewa, we work to provide state-of-the-art integrated infrastructure for electricity and water to provide our services according to the highest standards of availability, reliability, efficiency and quality. The construction of the water reservoirs in Al Nakhali, Al Lusaily and Hatta supports Dewa’s strategy to increase the efficiency and reliability of water networks, raise water flow and volume of water reserves to meet growing demand and sustainable development in Dubai. We aim to increase the storage capacity of Dubai to 1002MIG, compared to the current capacity of 815 MIG,” he said.
Largest storage project
Al Tayer noted that these reservoirs add to the Aquifer Storage and Recovery (ASR) project for desalinated water, for which, Dewa has completed its first phase. The full scale of the ASR project can store up to 6,000 million imperial gallons of water once completed by 2025. This makes it the largest ASR of its kind in the world to store potable water and retrieve it in case of an emergency.
“Thanks to its advanced infrastructure, innovation and sound scientific planning, Dewa keeps pace with the growing demand for water. In 1992, Dewa’s production capacity of desalinated water was 65MIGD. Today, it has increased to 490MIGD. Dewa’s R&D efforts and the latest global technologies reduced losses in its water transmission and distribution networks from more than 42 per cent in 1988 to 5.3 per cent in 2021. This is one of the lowest worldwide,” Al Tayer said.
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Abdullah Obaidullah, executive vice-president of Water and Civil at Dewa, said Dewa follows the highest international standards in the reservoirs it is building. He noted that the reinforced concrete 60-million-gallon reservoir in Al Lusaily is being built alongside the existing one, which stores 120 million gallons of desalinated water.
