Under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces, "Masdar" is to host the "International Water Summit 2016", during (18-21) January 2016, at the "Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre", under the umbrella of “Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week". The Summit aims to attract experts, officials, and decision-makers to discuss the water gap between supply and demand in the Middle East, the urgent need to reduce them, and the challenges and opportunities, and accelerate the work to develop new strategies and adopt innovative technologies, in order to ensure water sustainability in the region, as a recent study conducted by "Frost & Sullivan", commissioned by the International Water Summit, revealed that water consumption portion of the individual in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) for domestic purposes is the highest in the world, after reaching 1600 liters per day. The waste on a large scale, in addition to the scarcity of fresh water and the lack of renewable resources, contributes in widening the gap between supply and demand, at a time when a separate study conducted by the World Bank expected that the individual’s share of water will decline by more than 50 percent in 2050, in light of the continued population growth in the Middle East, and expectations that the population will double over the next forty years. "Saif Al Qubaisi", Acting Director General for "Regulation and Supervision Bureau" in "Abu Dhabi", explained that expectations about the high census in light of the economic development in the region impose the importance of hard work in order to meet the growing demand for water, through the development of sustainable organizational strategies, which will focus on the efficiency of usage and distribution, as well as enhancing the quality of water and making the most of this vital resource, especially with its large relation with energy, stressing that the cooperation of all parties concerned, along with the continuous development of innovations that contribute to the support of water resources, play a major role in achieving the desired goal. It is expected that the the summit, which will be held through a strategic partnership with "Abu Dhabi Water and Electricity Authority", will host more than 180 exhibiting companies from 35 countries, and more than 10 thousand visitors from 70 countries around the world. It is noteworthy that the sectors of water and electricity receive great attention from various government authorities and institutions in the State, especially with regard to creating and developing technologies that contribute to meeting the challenges and reducing that gap. The UAE University, upon the directives of His Excellency "Sheikh Hamdan bin Mubarak Al Nahyan", Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research, Chancellor of the University, has signed a cooperation agreement with the "Abu Dhabi Water and Electricity Authority", in order to strengthen cooperation and partnership in information, expertise, technologies, related programs of study, projects and initiatives, and fields of training citizens and developing their scientific capabilities and technical and practical skills, in line with the trends and strategies of the Authority on Emiratization and supporting research and studies, and in order to serve and develop the water and electricity sector and its national employees.
20/12/2015