Capital forced to seal 840 wells as water level drops :: KT

Khaleej Times reports (my emphasis):

In view of the worsening water scarcity situation in the country, Abu Dhabi Municipality has sealed 840 water wells in the emirate to maintain water reserves. The wells, including 630 in the Western Region and 210 in Al Ashoush and Al Ajban, have been plugged on the directives of the President, His Highness Shaikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan and is in line with a decision issued by the Abu Dhabi Executive Council regarding conservation of groundwater. Municipality sources said the move was part of a strategy to minimise consumption of water and streamline the use of groundwater to conserve resources.

"The Public Gardens Department of the Municipalities and Agriculture Department has sealed the Western Region's 630 wells in Bu Hasa and the 210 in Al Ashoush and Al Ajban, all farming areas, in view of the decline in groundwater levels. This was also because of a slight increase in salinity in water in these areas," the sources said.
. . .
In the past 25 years, the country's population has increased ten-fold and agricultural production has kept pace with this growth.

Studies have shown that much of the country's soil can be cultivated provided there is water, and as a result, there has been an extensive programme to drill water wells.

When no one owns the aquifer, everyone treats the water as free and overuses it - a classic common property problem. The government says it will provide alternative sources of water to make up for closed wells.

The strikingly rosy picture painted here stands in stark contrast.