Dubai builds world's largest water reservoirs

The three giant rectangular reservoirs, each with a capacity of 60 million imperial gallons, are being constructed in the Mushrif area of Dubai by the Mammut Group under a $168.6m (Dhs620m) contract.

'On completion the three reservoirs will contain a total of 180 million gallons of drinking water, marking a major milestone in Dubai's expansion of its utility infrastructure,' said Behzad Ferdows, Chairman and CEO of the Dubai-headquartered Mammut Group.

'With rapid population growth and economic development driving an exponential increase in the demand for water, governments throughout the region are continuously boosting supply to keep pace,' he added.

The Mushrif reservoirs are part of a Dhs12bn ($3.3bn) package of infrastructure projects recently unveiled by Dubai Water and Electricity Authority (DEWA) designed to meet the water and electricity demands of all existing and planned projects in the emirate.

According to DEWA statistics, Dubai currently has a water capacity of 262 million gallons a day – due to rise to nearly 800 million gallons a day by 2015. The Mushrif reservoirs will expand DEWA's current water storage capacity from 235 million gallons to 415 million gallons.

Announcing the package of expansion projects, Saeed Mohammad Al Tayer, Managing Director and CEO of DEWA, said they would 'satisfy the unprecedented growth in demand for DEWA's services for the ambitious projects in progress.'

Construction of the reservoirs will take 15 months with preliminary prefabrication work being carried out at Mammut Group's 300,000 square metre facilities at Dubai's Technopark. The contract is being carried out in conjunction with Mammut's partners in the project, the Max Boegel Group of Germany.

The three giant Mushrif reservoirs will:

• Cover a total area of approximately 165,000 square metres
• Measure 372 metres in length, by 169 metres in width and 5.6 metres in depth
• Consume 270,000 cubic metres of concrete
• Use 27,000 tonnes of reinforcing steel

The Earl Thomas Reservoir serving San Diego in California currently holds the record as the world's largest pre-stressed concrete drinking water reservoir with a capacity of 35 million gallons.