UMM AL QAIWAIN // Even when the taps in the emirate's neighbourhoods are flowing freely, the water that comes out of them is salty.
However, a Dh300 million, 60km water pipeline ordered yesterday by Sheikh Khalifa, the President of the UAE, should put an end to the emirate's perennial water shortages and provide homes with a safe supply of drinking water.
"This pipeline would provide 18 million gallons of safe water a day, and this is enough to cover the emirate's water supply shortages," said Rashid Hamed al Misbah, the director general of UAQMunicipality. "Many residents have been looking for this solution, and today it comes."
Saeed al Suhail, the acting director general of the Land Department in UAQ, said the new pipeline would be good for business and attract investors to the emirate.
Emad Ahmed, 35, an Emirati living in the Salama area, welcomed the news, saying that current pipelines often burst and filled the roads with water.
"There is a time when we stayed for two weeks without water because the pipe had busted, then it was repaired and water restored for one month, and it burst again," he said. "Every one here wants the water problem sorted out because a home without water is hell."
