Within the space of living memory, Dubai has gone from a pearl-diving centre to one of the great emerging cities of the world. But the resources that will be critical to sustaining this rapid economic and population growth are utilities that people almost take for granted nowadays: water and electricity.

As the population and the emirate's industrial base grow, the demand for water and electricity has been increasing rapidly. In fact, the peak demand for electricity has almost doubled over the past 10 years, putting tremendous pressure on the emirate's electricity grid.

UAE has one of the highest water consumption levels in the world. In all, it is estimated that UAE residents use between 250 and 550 litres of water and 20-30 kilowatt hours (kWh) of electricity a day, compared to the international average of 170 to 300 litres and 15 kWh per day respectively.

Water and electricity are precious resources, we must find ways of using our resources as efficiently as possible if we are to meet the growing needs of increasing population,  businesses and  industries while providing capacity for future generations. 

The UAE, for example, produces the vast majority of its potable water through desalination, but the Government is now concerned about the high energy cost and other environmental impacts of the process.

Treating sewage effluent to the extent that it is safe for use in agriculture has been technologically possible for decades. Reusing waste water is no longer a luxury, it is a need, especially in an area like UAE that is infamous for its water scarcity.

Dubai  took a great step towards saving precious water reserves on 21st April /yesterday  after the Government announced it would offer residents treated wastewater for a small monthly fee.

Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid, Deputy Ruler of Dubai, Minister of Finance and chairman of Dubai Municipality, issued a directive on the use of treated wastewater to irrigate non-food crops in residential plots, including villas. For two-and-a-half fils per square metre, homeowners will be able to irrigate their gardens.

Under a new rule, Dubai villa owners will pay a fixed monthly fee, instead of a variable metre rate, for irrigating their gardens. They will receive treated wastewater for a monthly fee of two and a half fils for every square metre of the total land area. That means, for example, they will pay only Dh10 a month for a 400 square metre plot, about the size of a medium villa with some space for the front yard. It also covers the irrigation of private farms and residential plots of land.

This development will contribute to increasing agriculture in Dubai and reducing the city?s carbon footprint. The directive will encourage homeowners who have gardens to invest in to cultivate their space at a very low cost.

Sources : The National and Gulf News