Dewa: Probe confirms Remraam water is safe

The Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (Dewa) says it has carried out an investigation into the quality of water being provided at Dubai’s Remraam community, and found the water safe, after concerns were raised by residents.

“Dubai Electricity and Water Authority is aware of the situation and has responded immediately to these raised concerns when they were first raised. Dewa ensures that its water supply is of the highest quality as it takes the health of the inhabitants of Dubai very seriously,” the authority noted in a statement sent to Emirates 24|7 after the conclusion of those investigations.

Last week, a section of residents in the Remraam development, part of the Dubailand project, raised concerns that their water supply was contaminated and was making them sick.

A letter signed by some residents and sent to Dewa noted the concerns. Dubai-based magazine Arabian Business quoted the letter saying that the residents feared that contaminated water behind “several incidents of children with high fever and nausea for no apparent reason, pets with mysterious diarrhea, as well as several residents getting skin rashes and headaches seemingly out of the blue”.

In response, Dewa undertook an official enquiry and found the water supply conformed to its specs. “Dewa technicians conducted a water-quality review of the property in question and visited the site. We can confirm that Dewa's water supply to the Remraam community conforms to the specifications for potable water,” the Dewa statement, issued by Khawla Al Mehairi, Dewa's Vice-President, Marketing & Corporate Communications, noted.

However, in subsequent investigations as a “caring citizen”, which the authority acknowledged were legally beyond its scope of responsibility, it found that the culprit may have been recent paintwork undertaken at the community’s pump room. 

“Dewa as a caring citizen of the society has made further investigations within the community area, which is legally outside of Dewa's scope of responsibility, and has found that the recently-painted pump room used a petroleum-based substance that, within the enclosed space, has a strong smell,” she said.

The authority highlighted that, “[b]ased on these findings, it is the duty of the developer, through its contracted facilities management company, to carry out an environmental check on the premises.” It added that since the utility cares about the community of Dubai, it has it has “contacted the developer for taking up this issue”.

“We would like to highlight to the residents of Dubai that Dewa’s responsibility for the water and electricity supply is till the meter only and beyond that it is the responsibility of the developer or the landlord. For example, increasing the load by adding new equipments in a property or the maintenance of the water tanks within the premises is the responsibility of the developer or the landlord, please contact the developer and the facility management company in charge,” she added.

“We would like to thank the residents for raising this matter to us. DEWA is committed to ensuring the supply of water to the highest standards; it has no control or liability over stored water quality within these premises,” the statement concluded.