Water resource and infrastructure experts to gather in Dubai next month

Top of the agenda are national and international case studies aimed at successfully evaluating groundwater resources using GIS and geophysical techniques, along with the UAE's dam management projects, strategies to date, and their success.

Speaking at the summit Dr. Mohamed A. Dawoud, Manager of Natural Resources Department, Environment Policy Sector, Environment Agency Abu Dhabi will delve into one such project - a strategic water reserve using aquifer storage and recovery - started as a pilot in the emirate in 2002.

"The results of this pilot impressively confirmed the suitability of the aquifer at the chosen location - a remote sand dune area around 150km south west of Abu Dhabi City - as well as the functioning of the infiltration and abstraction designs used," says Dawoud.

He adds that in the last three decades, rapid population growth and accelerated socioeconomic development in the GCC countries have added to water demands, which have escalated from less than 5 billion cubic meters in 1970 to about 26.778 billion cubic meters in 2005.

Due to the deterioration of non renewable aquifers, all GCC countries rely on the desalinated water as a main source for domestic water supply.

"The WaterTech conference is a good opportunity to connect with water management experts, discuss important water-related issues and challenges facing the region, and hopefully also distill down the mitigation measures that need to be taken."

Kelly Grant, Event Director at IQPC Middle East says,

"The Middle East is facing a water resource problem that is one of the biggest in the world. The level of available renewable water in the region is predicted to be one fifth of what the rest of the world enjoys. Despite this, the UAE is one of the world's largest water users. Apart from successful case studies, WaterTech will look at planning, design and implementation of transmission and distribution infrastructure to cope with future demands; the prospect of wastewater as a sustainable resource using water minimization technologies into new housing developments."

Highlighted speakers include Professor Abdel-Azim M. Ebraheem, Senior Geophysicist, UAE Ministry of Environment & Water; Alan Thomson, Managing Director, Abu Dhabi Sewerage Services Company; Mohammed Abdulaziz Najem Al Awadhi, Director of Waste Water Treatment, Dubai Municipality and Dr. Mohamed Mustafa Al Mulla, Deputy Minister of Water and Soil Affairs, UAE Ministry of Water and Environment.

In addition to the two-day summit taking place on 13 and 14 October at the Crowne Plaza Hotel Dubai, the event will include four solution-finding workshops on 12 and 15 October.