Water usage and wastage in the UAE :: Khaleej Times

Quoting:

UAE has one of the highest water consumption levels [per capita] in the world compared to Western countries due to climatic conditions and high per capita income, according to a study by Emirates Industrial Bank.
. . .
To fulfill the requirements of water, DEWA [Dubai Electricity and Water Authority] will invest Dh20 billion which will expand its capacity by 2010 and will increase desalinated water capacity to 110 million gallons per day (gpd).

Apart from this, this year in February, DEWA launched a campaign to rationalise power and water consumption and avoid wastage.

According to Saeed Mohammed Al Tayer, managing director and chief executive officer of DEWA, “The culture of rationalisation of water and electricity consumption and avoiding wastage are given priority as they constitute an important pivot in Dewa's strategic plan.’’

Somewhere along the way Mr. Al Tayer has had some indoctrination to say "culture of rationalization." Perhaps I am overreading, but he seems to be saying that if society could teach the value of water it wouldn't be wasted. But the UAE is past the point where the tribe could use social pressures to ensure that its water was not squandered on low value uses. The solution is to raise the price of water so that those who use it use it on the highest value uses. Price water cheaply and it will be used cheaply. The market is your friend.

Other water stories in today's Khaleej Times here, quoting:

RAK authorities adopted the strategy to establish desalination facilities, following the sharp drop in groundwater levels in the past few years, to meet the increasing water needs of the population. "At present, the total desalinated water output in the emirate is 17 million gallons daily, which is short of the emirate's actual consumption," he said.

And here, quoting:

a great number of farms located in this area were using old irrigation systems which required huge quantities of water, mainly groundwater sources which had virtually dried up in the absence of rains. Mohammed Mater Omeir Al Niady, a local farmer from Um Ghafa, said the new water supply network would solve the problem of water shortage and will increase farm production.

As a wise man has written, the cheapest way to import water is by substituting imported farm produce for domestic. Subsidizing the cost of water (by underpricing it) leads to a wasteful substitution of highly water-consuming crops for crops that require less water, or take water from other more valuable uses (including leaving it in the ground so that salt water is not drawn, spoiling the aquifer).