Expert calls on building industry to cut back on water use

Jeff Stephenson, Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of Oryx (Al Maha) Enterprises, was speaking at the fifth community lecture organised by Emirates Environmental Group (EEG), held at Sofitel City Centre & Residence. Patrick Taylor, Manager Technical Services of SINAK Corporation was the other speaker of the evening.

"Because natural aquifers are being significantly stretched, there is an increasing reliance on desalinated water, which costs up to three times as much as groundwater. It accounts for more than 50 percent of domestic water use,"

Mr. Stephenson said.

"Between 2005 and 2015, MENA countries are expected to spend US$24bn in desalination costs, with Saudi Arabia and UAE together spending nearly US$13bn," Mr. Stephenson added.

EEG will be organising several more such free lectures throughout 2007. The objective is to facilitate community awareness and foster a pro-active environmental culture among people. EEG has been conducting these free lectures since 1991 with speakers being qualified and experienced professionals, academics, and thought leaders.

EEG Chairperson, Ms.Habiba Al Marashi, also stressed on the importance of water conservation in view of the Middle East region's natural water scarcity. "The Middle East does not have abundant water reserves. The demand for water in the UAE and other Middle Eastern countries is met by desalinating huge quantities of sea water. Desalination has serious environmental costs, including using fossil fuel generated energy and increasing CO2 emissions. It is in the best interests of our region to minimise and rationalise water consumption."

A possible solution comes from technological breakthroughs and possible uses of recovered water supplies. New building products can meet or exceed requirements with 0.00004% of the water, 0.01% of the waste, no pollutants and a fraction of the cost, labour and time.

Mr. Stephenson commented that the Middle East makes up 5% of the global population, but has only about 1% of the world's renewable fresh water. Despite this significant delta between supply and demand and the region's reliance on its neighbours and insufficient production measures to meet its need, enormous amounts of potable water is being used for non-human consumption.

The lecture concluded with an interactive session with the audience. It was attended by individual members of EEG, interested people, including members of the Qatar Environmental Committee and local government representatives from the UAE. On behalf of EEG, Mrs. Al Marashi presented beautiful engraved crystals, specially made for the occasion, to the two speakers and to a representative of Sofitel Hotel.