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29 March 2024

UAE world’s top water consumer

Published
By Staff

UAE people have emerged as the world’s largest water consumers, with the average per capita consumption standing at 364 litres per day, nearly 82 per cent above the global average individual demand, a UAE official has said.

Demand for water in the UAE totalled around 4.5 billion cubic metres (bcm) in 2010 and is projected to nearly double to nine bcm in 2030 because of high consumption and population growth, said Mariam Hassan Al-Shanasi, undersecretary of the ministry of environment and water.

In statements published in the semi official daily Alittihad, she estimated per capita water demand in the country at 364 litres per day compared with a global average of nearly 200 litres per day.

“The UAE average is higher than the average demand in advanced countries with similar climate and is far above the global average,” she said.

Shanasi gave no reason for the high demand in the UAE but experts attribute it to the hot weather, rapid population growth, a steady expansion in most non-oil sectors and lack of public awareness about water conservation.

More than 70 per cent of the UAE’s drinking water needs comes from costly sea water desalination plants given the Gulf country’s poor underground water resources because of its desert nature.

“There is an urgent need to stop the drainage of underground water resources, protect the country’s water and environment systems and rationalize water consumption….we also need to curb the excessive use of water as this is adversely affecting our environment,” Shanasi said.

Her figures showed the farming sector consumer of water in the UAE, sapping nearly 34 per cent of the total demand. The housing and industrial sector accounts for about 32 per cent and forestry for nearly 15 per cent.

Shanasi said ground water resources provide nearly 51 per cent of the UAE’s total water demand while 37 per cent comes from desalination and 12 per cent from water treatment facilities.

She said the UAE has around 70 water desalination plants, accounting for 14 per cent of the world’s total production of desalinated water.

“Costs of water production in the UAE stood at nearly Dh11.8 billion in 2010, an average Dh7.16 per cubic metre,” she said.