UAE BUILDS WORLD’S LARGEST RESERVE
OF
ARTIFICIALLY DESALINATED WATER
Satellite image of the Liwa Strategic Water Reserve in UAE. Green spots are locations of pumps for filling up and draining the reserve. (ADWEA)
Today I write on a novel method of water conservation and preservation by the desert state of UAE. This deal with how a desert population deals with scarcity of potable water and brings out a new innovative dimension in conservation of water. Below are the excerpts from an article in qz.com. This would be of great interest to the farmer community also.
On Jan 15, 2018 at the launch of the 2018 International Water Summit in Abu Dhabi, The Abu Dhabi Water & Electricity Authority unveiled the world’s largest reserve of artificially desalinated water.
The reserve exists in an aquifer under the Liwa desert at the southern edge of the country, about 160 km away from the desalination plants located at the coast. It contains about 26 billion liters of water, and needed 26 months to fill it up. In case of emergencies, the reserve can provide about 100 million liters of water per day to the country’s residents. The planning to build the reserve began in 2002, and it cost about $450 million.
The desalinated water is transported through large pipes (about 1 meter in diameter), which had to be pieced together in the desert through high-precision welding to make them leak-proof for at least 50 years. The water is then dumped about 80 meters underground through perforated pipes, where it seeps deeper into the aquifer. There are about 300 wells to recharge, recover, and observe the aquifer’s water.
UAE requires around 6 billion liters of water daily so the amount of about 100 million liters may seem small, but as they say every little drop of water helps manlind.
Pl read the full article on https://qz.com/1180035/uae-has-built-the-worlds-largest-water-reserve-in-liwa-desert/
Hi ; I have had opportunity to travel widely and have keen watched whatever farming practices the local farmers were engaged in. Back home been growing gerberas mostly in polyhouses, but outside in kitchen garden as well. i love these hardy perennials. good for business too if done in a routine orderly scientific manner. Also engaged in farming of wheat and organic vegetables on a small scale for me and family. My service profile has been that of an electronic and telecom engineer and now am engaged in web site creation and blogging.
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