Water and the UAE
Even though we're a small, young nation, our water consumption - including bottled water - is larger than many countries with much larger populations.
In 2005, we consumed about 4,180 Million cubic meters of water. Agriculture was the largest consumer (2,508 Million cubic meters, or 60%), then domestic consumption (1,045 Million cubic meters, or 25%), then industrial activities (376 Million cubic meters, or 9%), then landscaping (251 Million cubic meters, or 6%).
Yet even as we grow ever more thirsty, we grow ever less able to quench our national thirst.
It goes without saying that we get very little rain here; about 120 millimetres a year. Compare that with a rainy country like Thailand, which gets almost 20 times that amount every year without fail!
Except for some rare permanent wadis in the UAE mountains, we have virtually no fresh, free flowing water; no rivers, lakes or streams.
Which means we have to take our fresh water from aquifers below ground. But we're extracting it faster than it can be replenished.
As a result, the water table is falling lower into the earth. In fact, overall the UAE's water table has dropped by one full metre per year since the 1980's. Even more alarming, in the Al Ain region of the Abu Dhabi Emirate, a groundwater level loss of 61 to 93m in 10 years has been observed!
To make matters worse, the quality of our underground water is starting to suffer as it increasingly comes into contact with pollutants. This too has an adverse impact on its availability.
Even if we stopped today, it would take many centuries for the underground water resource to come back into balance. Yet our need for water just keeps growing by the day.
For most of our needs here in the UAE, we can use de-salinated water and treated waste water. But our current maximum production capacity is only 1,504 Million cubic meters per year. That's just 36% of the total water we would need to maintain our current consumption rate of 4,180 Million cubic meters/year.
