UAE 'to invest Dh51bn in desalination stations'

The UAE is to invest Dh51 billion in desalination stations and distribution networks over the next four years.

At the global summit for water in the oil and gas sector that began today in Dubai, Dr Mariam Al-Shenasi, the undersecretary of the Ministry of Environment and Water, revealed that the UAE will invest in a programme of works to run until 2016.

She explained that the UAE relies on three main sources of water; groundwater makes up for 51 per cent of the country's resources; desalinated seawater is 40 per cent and processed wastewater 9 per cent, which is used in irrigation, esthetic agriculture and some industrial activities.

Dr Al-Shenasi noted that the county's demand for water increased from 190 million cubic metres in 1985 to more than four billion cubic metres in the present day.

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