News
Al Awir treatment plant closure report denied
Officials at Dubai Municipality have moved to end speculation that the under-construction Jebel Ali wastewater treatment centre will replace the Awir plant.
Mohammed Abdulaziz Najem Al Awadhi, Director of Waste Water Treatment at the municipality, said reports of the closure in some section of the media were untrue.
"The Jebel Ali plant is expected to come online by the middle of next year and will serve the Dubai side. It is meant to relieve the pressure on the existing treatment plant at Al Awir, which will serve the Deira side," he said.
"I want to correct the reports, which stated that once the Jebel Ali plant is operational, we will shut down.
The treatment plant run by the municipality at Awir treats up to 500,000 cubic metres a day. The new treatment plant at Jebel Ali will treat around 300,000 cubic metres a day.
It will be built in four phases. Phase one is under construction, phase two will come online in the middle of next year. And by 2020, as much as 1.2 million cubic metres of water will be treated.
"It is expensive to build these plants and, with current inflation in the market, investment costs have almost tripled," said Al Awadhi.
"To build a treatment plant, it costs around Dh3,500 to Dh4000 per cubic metre. So the total investment costs of this plant could run between Dh1.5 billion to Dh1.7bn.
"But the costs are coming down, since the market for petrol is stabilising and prices of steel have come down."
The quantity, which is currently coming to the Al Awir plant for treatment is around 480,000 cubic metres per day, he said.
"We are expecting to reach 500,000 cubic metres a day before the end of this year," he said.
Dubai Municipality has appointed environmental engineering consultant MWH on the Jebel Ali wastewater and biosolids treatment facility.
Currently, treated sewage effluent (TSE) is being used for irrigation and landscaping, firefighting and district cooling.
"Due to freshwater scarcity, which is like a commodity, we are encouraging other applications for TSE and to use it for industrial purposes such as district cooling," said Al Awadhi.
"This treated water could replace the freshwater being produced by Dubai Electricty and Water Authority.
"If we benchmark our treatment plants, we can easily compete with private companies. Even though we are part of the government, our methodology of running and maintaining the plant is like a private entity. "
The municipality does not plan an immediate price hike, he told Emirates Business.
"At the moment, we are selling the treated water to private developers. Once you go to further level of treatment and it will be a wanted commodity," he said. "We are currently selling this water at Dh1.1 per cubic metre. We do not want to contribute to inflation. So there will be no price increases in the near future."
He said he believed the main focus must remain on preserving the environment.
"This is the main drive. Making money or losing money will be a secondary issue," said Al Awadhi. "Every cubic metre of water that you are drawing from the sea, you are putting back as concentrated brine into the sea. Then the salinity of the sea will go up. My personal view is that the environmental aspects have to be the key drivers."
He will give an in-depth presentation on the key benefits of membrane bioreactor systems in water treatment programmes at WaterTech 2008, which will be held between October 12 and 15 in Dubai.
Mohammed Abdulaziz Najem Al Awadhi, Director of Waste Water Treatment at the municipality, said reports of the closure in some section of the media were untrue.
"The Jebel Ali plant is expected to come online by the middle of next year and will serve the Dubai side. It is meant to relieve the pressure on the existing treatment plant at Al Awir, which will serve the Deira side," he said.
"I want to correct the reports, which stated that once the Jebel Ali plant is operational, we will shut down.
The treatment plant run by the municipality at Awir treats up to 500,000 cubic metres a day. The new treatment plant at Jebel Ali will treat around 300,000 cubic metres a day.
It will be built in four phases. Phase one is under construction, phase two will come online in the middle of next year. And by 2020, as much as 1.2 million cubic metres of water will be treated.
"It is expensive to build these plants and, with current inflation in the market, investment costs have almost tripled," said Al Awadhi.
"To build a treatment plant, it costs around Dh3,500 to Dh4000 per cubic metre. So the total investment costs of this plant could run between Dh1.5 billion to Dh1.7bn.
"But the costs are coming down, since the market for petrol is stabilising and prices of steel have come down."
The quantity, which is currently coming to the Al Awir plant for treatment is around 480,000 cubic metres per day, he said.
"We are expecting to reach 500,000 cubic metres a day before the end of this year," he said.
Dubai Municipality has appointed environmental engineering consultant MWH on the Jebel Ali wastewater and biosolids treatment facility.
Currently, treated sewage effluent (TSE) is being used for irrigation and landscaping, firefighting and district cooling.
"Due to freshwater scarcity, which is like a commodity, we are encouraging other applications for TSE and to use it for industrial purposes such as district cooling," said Al Awadhi.
"This treated water could replace the freshwater being produced by Dubai Electricty and Water Authority.
"If we benchmark our treatment plants, we can easily compete with private companies. Even though we are part of the government, our methodology of running and maintaining the plant is like a private entity. "
The municipality does not plan an immediate price hike, he told Emirates Business.
"At the moment, we are selling the treated water to private developers. Once you go to further level of treatment and it will be a wanted commodity," he said. "We are currently selling this water at Dh1.1 per cubic metre. We do not want to contribute to inflation. So there will be no price increases in the near future."
He said he believed the main focus must remain on preserving the environment.
"This is the main drive. Making money or losing money will be a secondary issue," said Al Awadhi. "Every cubic metre of water that you are drawing from the sea, you are putting back as concentrated brine into the sea. Then the salinity of the sea will go up. My personal view is that the environmental aspects have to be the key drivers."
He will give an in-depth presentation on the key benefits of membrane bioreactor systems in water treatment programmes at WaterTech 2008, which will be held between October 12 and 15 in Dubai.