DUBAI, 29th June, 2022 (WAM) — The state-of-the-art infrastructure of Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA), adopting innovation and the latest tools for anticipating the future, and sound scientific planning have helped it keep pace with the growing demand for water in Dubai according to the highest standards of availability, reliability, and efficiency.
DEWA’s total production capacity has reached 490 Million Imperial Gallons per Day (MIGD) of desalinated water including 63MIGD using Reverse Osmosis (RO). The full length of water transmission and distribution lines has reached 13,592 kilometres across Dubai by the end of 2021. This helps to maintain services for more than 3.5 million people who live in Dubai and millions of visitors. The results surpass many European and American companies in several indicators. In 2021, the water network losses reached 5.3 percent compared to around 15 percent in North America, which is one of the lowest percentages worldwide. This enhances DEWA’s position as one of the most prominent global utilities and the most distinguished in all its operations.
The authority strives to ensure water security in the UAE, as part of its commitment to this national priority which forms one of the seven strategic sectors of the National Innovation Strategy. This is in accordance with its efforts to support Goal 6 of the UN Sustainable Development Goals 2030, which ensures clean water and sanitation for all.
Suhail bin Mohammed Al Mazrouei, Minister of Energy and Infrastructure, said that the government firmly believes that water security is a prerequisite for sustainable development efforts. Therefore, it launched its Water Security Strategy 2036, to ensure the sustainability and continuity of access to water during natural and extreme emergency conditions, while giving the sixth goal of the sustainable development goals related to water a top priority. The scarcity of water resources is one of the biggest challenges facing the Arab region.
“Recently, we launched four pioneering national initiatives concerned with the sustainability of water resources in the country. These include a Digital System for Water Management in Infrastructure Assets, Integrated Management of Dams and Water Facilities, the Hydrogeological Map project and Water Future Hackathon in Infrastructure Assets. The initiatives are within the ministry’s efforts to support the objectives of the Emirates Water Security Strategy 2036, reduce the total demand for water resources by 21 percent, reduce the water scarcity index by three degrees, and increase the rate of reuse of treated water to 95 percent,” Al Mazrouei added.
“We work to achieve the Demand Side Management Strategy to reduce consumption of electricity and water by 30 percent by 2030, and Dubai’s comprehensive approach to ensure the sustainability of water resources in line with the Dubai Integrated Water Resource Management Strategy 2030, which focuses on enhancing water resources, rationalising water consumption, and using cutting-edge technologies and innovative solutions. This is in accordance with the directives of President His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan and His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President, Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai,” said Saeed Mohammed Al Tayer, MD and CEO of DEWA.
“DEWA has an integrated strategy to ensure the security and sustainability of energy and water. This strategy is based on three pillars. The first is to provide 100 percent of the energy production capacity in Dubai from clean energy sources by 2050. The second is to decouple the desalination process from electricity production and desalinate water using solar energy. DEWA aims to produce 100 percent desalinated water by 2030 using a combination of clean energy sources and waste heat. The third is disrupting the role of utilities by digitisation through Digital DEWA, our digital arm, to make DEWA the first digital utility in the world using autonomous systems for renewable energy and storage while expanding the use of AI and digital services,” Al Tayer added.
