The “United Nations”
has dedicated the year (2014) to the relationship between water and energy,
(8%) of global energy is used for water pumping, treatment and transfer to
consumers, it also stressed on the development of comprehensive policies and
frameworks that link ministries and sectors to pave the way for energy security
and sustainable use of water in the green economy, and identifying the best
practices that can make green industry water and energy saving part of reality.
A report of the “Environment
Agency-Abu Dhabi” stated that the UAE faces a major challenge with regard to
water resources, thus the Agency recently launched projects to study the
feasibility of using renewable sources of energy in
the process of supplying the future needs of water, including the establishment
of (22) desalination plants utilizing solar power to transform high salinity
water into fresh water for irrigation and watering animals without any carbon
emissions, the report listed a number of proposals made by the Agency to help
enterprises alleviate the water crisis.
There are many
initiatives and conferences in the UAE on ways of water conservation and development,
the "World Water Summit 2014" discussed in its second session, the
major challenges facing the arid areas and appropriate solutions in terms of
integrated water resources management and water desalination using renewable
energy, and successful strategies for reusing water, improve water production
and water security issues, linking the water and energy sectors.
The government of the
UAE seeks through its authorities and its various organizations to assist
various public and private institutions to achieve their commitments towards
the environment and the integration of environmental considerations in the various
stages of planning and implementation of development projects. The “Ministry of Higher Education and
Scientific Research” organized last year an international research symposium on
"Water Management in Saline Lands 2013", held at the headquarters of
the “National Research Foundation” in “Knowledge Village” in “Dubai”, to develop international research
collaboration and exchange of experience and knowledge about developments in
water management in saline land in the "Middle East", lessons learned,
practical experiences and tools for the management and protection of the
natural resources. The "National Centre of Meteorology and
Seismology" implemented a cloud seeding project that comes within the
framework of ensuring the sustainability of water security in the State to
implement the vision of his Highness Sheikh “Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan”,
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Presidential Affairs and Chairman of the
Board of Trustees of the “National Center of Meteorology and Seismology",
since the State has provided national staff and acquired a fleet of six
aircraft for cloud seeding operations.
The water shortage
in Arab countries will be the main cause of instability in the region at the
local and regional levels unless corrective actions are taken, including the
conservation and development of new water sources and reuse of reclaimed
wastewater as a new source of water, in addition to desalination projects which
have high financial cost, the Arab world needs (200) Billion Dollars to complete projects to
decrease the water deficit for the year 2030, and so the water issue will
become the most important parameter of economic and social development and
increasing poverty and unemployment.
Therefore the “United
Nations” calls on this "World Water Day" on the (22nd) of March
of each year, to the sustainable management of freshwater resources, and to dedicate
this day to concrete activities such as raising awareness through the
publication and distribution of documentary materials, organization of
conferences, round tables, seminars and trade shows relating to the
conservation and development of water resources and the implementation of the
recommendations of Agenda (21).
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