research on desalination and water purifying technology in uae

Water Desalination: Environmental Impacts and Brine Management

• First Online: 18 March 2020

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• Abdulrahman S. Alsharhan 4 &
• Zeinelabidin E. Rizk 5  

Part of the book series: World Water Resources ((WWR,volume 3))

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This chapter discusses the evolution of water desalination in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), analyzes the environmental challenges associated with the desalination industry and proposes solutions for the alleviation of desalination-related problems.

The MEOW (State of the environment report—United Arab Emirates. Ministry of Environment and Water, p 36, 2015) stated that: “The UAE adopted water desalination since early 1970s to bridge the gap between limited natural water resources and the escalating water demand for all purposes”. ICBA (Developing federal environmental guidelines and standards to monitor and manage the discharges from desalination plants in the United Arab Emirates, UAE Ministry of Environment and Water, p 119, 2012) reported: “The production of desalination plants increased from 7 Mm 3 in 1973 to 1,750 Mm 3 in 2015, and in the present, the UAE has 266 desalination plants in operation. The majority of the plants constructed in coastal areas desalinate seawater, while a few plants installed in desert regions are desalinating brackish and saline groundwater”.

Alsharhan et al. (Hydrogeology of an Arid Region: The Arabian Gulf and Adjoining Areas. Published by Elsevier B.V, Amsterdam, 2001) mentioned that: “The multi-stage flash (MSF) distillation is the main desalination technology in use in the UAE, representing 99.8% in Dubai, 88% in Abu Dhabi and 52% in Sharjah. The multi-effect distillation (MED) method represents 30% in Sharjah and 10% in Abu Dhabi”. The reverse osmosis (RO) desalination is 18% in Sharjah, 2% in Abu Dhabi and 0.2% in Dubai. The desalination technologies in the Northern Emirates are mostly RO, with a few MED and MSF plants. Solar desalination is only practiced in Abu Dhabi, which has 3 experimental solar desalination plants in Umm El Nar (Abu Dhabi Island) and Umm Az Zamoul, in the southeastern corner of the UAE. The total production capacity of solar desalination plants is 640 m 3 /d.

Water desalination has negative environmental impacts on the marine and terrestrial environments. In addition, the desalination plants face several problems such as corrosion, scale formation, membrane fouling and sedimentation. Al Asam and Rizk (Desalination and water environment in the United Arab Emirates: impacts and solutions. International Desalination World Congress. Dubai. UAE, p 41, 2009) referred to: “the disposal of reject brine from coastal or inland desalination plants and its adverse effects on the ecosystems of the marine environment and groundwater”.

Alleviating the negative impacts of the desalination industry in the country should focus on achieving zero-brine discharge by extracting salts and valuable chemicals from reject brines for industrial and commercial uses, incorporating solar-pond technology, using renewable energy sources in desalination and funding research and development in water desalination.

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University of Science and Technology of Fujairah, Fujairah, United Arab Emirates

Zeinelabidin E. Rizk

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Alsharhan, A.S., Rizk, Z.E. (2020). Water Desalination: Environmental Impacts and Brine Management. In: Water Resources and Integrated Management of the United Arab Emirates. World Water Resources, vol 3. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-31684-6_14

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How the UAE’s Water Innovations Are Helping to Build a More Sustainable Future

Sponsor content from UAE.

The story of our planet’s future is a story about water.

As the climate crisis disrupts agriculture, biodiversity, and water security, scientists and entrepreneurs are collaborating under strenuous conditions to get ahead of water’s evolving challenges: how to access it, distribute it, and use it efficiently, economically, and sustainably.

A hot, arid climate may seem unlikely as a primary locale for water innovation. But the extreme desert conditions of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) are ideal as a natural incubator for inventing, testing, and building the solutions needed by the world’s most marginalized populations.

Innovating with water to develop sustainable farming, desalination, and manufacturing are among the UAE’s top priorities today. Several key initiatives in various stages of development include innovative strategies to grow food in the desert, desalinate more and use its byproducts, and refine cloud-seeding in order to make it rain where people need it.

Sustainable Farming

An estimated 1.7 billion people live in marginal areas, where agriculture faces a range of constraints such as water scarcity, salinization, and drought. The majority of the people are extremely poor and undernourished.

To support food and water security in these areas, the International Center for Biosaline Agriculture (ICBA) has spent over 20 years on future-proofing farming, steadily building a unique gene bank that is home to more than 15,000 accessions of some 270 plant species that thrive in harsh environments.

Since its foundation, the ICBA has introduced a number of resilient and nutritious crops and resource-efficient technologies to rural areas in about 30 countries; trained over 30,000 farmers in best practices in biosaline agriculture; and delivered capacity development programs for thousands of women and young people throughout 93 countries.

“As water gets scarcer and climate change affects our ability to grow food,” says Dr. Tarifa Alzaabi, ICBA’s acting director general, “we need to innovate our way to a water- and food-secure future by making the most of the limited resources we have while reducing the impact we make on the environment. And the UAE is becoming a global hub for developing and testing innovations that can help us achieve that.”

Local food sourcing is critical to reducing carbon emissions from transportation, particularly in a country like the UAE, which imports 90% of its food. Addressing the challenge is Smart Acres : a vertical indoor hydroponic farm that grows 13 cycles of lettuce a year, yielding 20 times as much food while using a tenth of the land and 90% less water than traditional farming would demand. Smart Acres is working to scale its production from 11 tons to 105 tons of leafy greens annually.

The UAE’s agricultural innovations aren’t limited to using fresh water and fertile land. Khalifa University’s Seawater Energy and Agriculture System (SEAS) has developed a process that uses waste of farmed fish and shrimp as fertilizer to grow halophytes: salt-acceding plants that cleanse water and air. These saltwater-loving plants produce oil-rich seeds ideal for making jet biofuel—which in 2019 powered an Etihad Airways Boeing 787 flight from Abu Dhabi to Amsterdam.

Sourcing, Manufacturing, Cloud-Seeding

The Middle East produces half of the world’s desalinated water, as much as 7.5 million m 3 per day. But it comes at a cost. The standard thermal desalination process—boiling seawater and capturing and condensing its vapor—is expensive, generates substantial carbon emissions, and produces significant wastewater.

Another method, membrane desalination, filters salt from seawater rather than boiling it out. The Water Research Center at New York University Abu Dhabi (NYUAD) has developed nanomaterials and advanced membrane technology suited to the Middle East climate that cuts the energy it takes to produce clean water from seawater to 2.5 kw/m 3 : a significant reduction from thermal desalination’s standard 12 to 18 kw/m 3 .

NYUAD is developing methods to extract magnesium-based minerals from desalination byproducts to support the decarbonation of cement manufacturing. The 200-year-old cement production process of heating limestone and clay accounts for 8% of annual anthropogenic (human-made) carbon emissions globally. NYUAD is using these minerals to prototype CalMag, a type of binder that requires so little heat to manufacture—and even absorbs CO 2 as it hardens—that the process itself is carbon-negative.

The UAE sources just 4% of its water supply from surface water, groundwater, and rainwater: a significant strain for its 10 million residents. But getting more rain by tapping into atmosphere water is no longer a matter of wishful thinking.

A team at Khalifa University (KU) in Abu Dhabi led by Professor Linda Zou won a US$1.5 million government grant with the idea to pioneer cloud-seeding nanotechnology that promotes efficient water-vapor condensation and produces larger droplets than decades-old methods—generating up to three times as much water as rainfall. After promising trials, the cloud-seed material may be ready to be produced at scale in 2022.

Water Works

While it may sound counterintuitive, it makes sense that so much water innovation today would come from this desert nation. The irrigation systems that allowed the region’s ancestors to survive and flourish thousands of years ago have planted the seeds of conservation and water management that still grow here today.

Innovators in the United Arab Emirates are working in an environment that poses difficult questions about water—and that pushes them to find the answers. For an increasingly climate-stressed planet, their water-management solutions today may lead to a more responsible, more sustainable, more equitable future for the entire world.

Learn more about how the United Arab Emirates is leading on water innovation and other sustainability measures.

• Publications & Patents

Center for Membranes and Advanced Water Technology

The UAE faces growing water scarcity challenges that require the development and implementation of long-term, sustainable, and integrated capacity in water and membrane technologies that are resilient, energy-efficient, environment-friendly and cost-effective. The Center for Membranes and Advanced Water Technology (CMAT) has been established to meet this need.

CMAT has three objectives: (1) Develop and transfer novel and relevant advanced membrane and water technologies; (2) Develop a sustainable framework for integrated, multidisciplinary research to tackle water challenges in the UAE and GCC; and (3) Support local and regional stakeholders in the water sector through targeted training, capacity building and technology transfer activities.

Our Mission is to undertake multidisciplinary collaborative research to cover the following areas:

• Desalination technology
• Membrane technologies
• Advanced wastewater treatment technologies

To lay the foundation for capacity building in desalination and water in the UAE.

We envision the Center for Membranes and Advanced Water Technology (CMAT) to be a world leading center with an international collaborative research and development environment focusing on UAE needs.

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UAE researchers are making desalination carbon neutral and more environmentally friendly

• More on this topic

Most potable water in Gulf countries comes from desalination, but the process is expensive and has a large environmental footprint

Countries in the Arabian Gulf depend on desalination for their survival as most of their drinkable water is extracted from seawater. Researchers at the United Arab Emirates University (UAEU) are working to make the process more sustainable and turn waste products into valuable resources. 

“Desalination is hitting a wall,” says Ahmed Elsayed, a researcher at the UAEU who works on sustainable desalination. A popular way to extract potable water from seawater involves drawing water from the sea, putting it under extreme pressures, and pushing it through a membrane to separate the water from salts and minerals. Traditionally, the process is totally or in part fuelled by non-renewable energy.

The process is energy-intensive and expensive, and it has a large environmental footprint. It produces greenhouse gases as well as concentrated salts, known as brine, which are pumped back into the oceans and are detrimental to the marine environment. For every litre of water produced, the process creates about 1.5 litres of brine. These factors limit the expansion of desalination and its ability to keep up with the rising demand for potable water in Gulf countries including the UAE.

“We are trying to address two environmental challenges,” says Ali Al-Marzouqi, a professor of chemical engineering at the UAEU and Elsayed’s supervisor. “One is the carbon which is emitted into the atmosphere and then there is the brine.”

In a recent paper published in journal Desalination , UAEU researchers showed how brine and carbon can be used to produce valuable products, making the process more economically viable and reducing its environmental footprint. 

“We wanted to integrate the concept of the circular economy,” says Elsayed. The researchers simulated the chemical reactions and physical conditions inside large desalination plants such as the ones used in the UAE. They wanted to understand what would happen if the waste carbon dioxide emitted was pumped into a pressurised reactor containing the brine. They found that all the carbon dioxide could be absorbed by more than 70 per cent of the dissolved sodium in the brine. The carbon and sodium together form bicarbonate soda, which could be a valuable by-product of desalination. By using all the carbon, the process could become carbon neutral, says Elsayed. Further research will tackle other salts and chemicals produced by desalination.

“At the end, we will have a gas which has less carbon dioxide and is safe to emit into the atmosphere, and the brine water hopefully comes to a level which can be used for irrigation,” says Al-Marzouqi.

This research is the latest output of a decade-long project, in which UAEU researchers are working with Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) to promote sustainable desalination. This year, ADNOC earmarked $15 billion (£12.5 billion) for low-carbon solutions.

Al-Marzouqi and his colleagues’ work began as a laboratory-scale project with ADNOC, but now ranges from experimental work to modelling and simulation as well as pilot-scale testing.

In addition to industry collaboration, the university also works with researchers from universities around the world. In fact, the UAEU offers a dual PhD programme with KU Leuven in Belgium, and recently began collaborating with the National University of Singapore. 

“We have strong collaborations with industry and other universities,” says Al-Marzouqi. “Collaboration is very important and highly encouraged at the university.”

For now, Al-Marzouqi and colleagues are looking to identify valuable chemicals that could be produced from desalination and could be used in, for example, the construction industry. Such by-products could make desalination more economically viable and environmentally friendly.

Read more about this work in the Desalination journal.

Find out more about the College of Engineering at the UAEU.

Hydropolitics News and Intelligence

UAE: Water Security Through Desalination Investment

Prioritise sdg 6.

12 May 2022 by The Water Diplomat ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates

The Minister of Energy and Infrastructure of the United Arab Emirates, Suhail bin Mohammed Al Mazrouei, has confirmed that the country’s investment in desalination is meeting directives set out in order to achieve water security.

The country has prioritized achievement of SDG 6 and has increased investment in desalination projects at a rate of 3 percent per annum in combination with other national strategic projects. Total investment in new plants has reached $2.1 Billion USD.

The new investment is part of the strategic plan launched in 2017. The country has ambitious goals to reduce total demand of water resources by 21 per cent; increase the reuse of treated water to 95 per cent; reduce average consumption by each person by half; and develop a storage capacity for more than 45 days in extreme emergencies.

Water security is viewed to be key to sustainable development and the plan, to be concluded in 2036, will improve access and enhance sustainability. The backbone of the plan is investment in desalination technology.

  "The value of investments in new desalination plants in Abu Dhabi, Dubai, and Umm Al Quwain amounts to AED7.63 billion ($2.08 billion), in line with the directives of the UAE’s leadership to achieve water security," stated Suhail bin Mohammed Al Mazrouei, while speaking on the sidelines of the ongoing World Utilities Congress 2022.

  The UAE Water Security Strategy 2036 and the National Water and Energy Demand Management Programmes follow approved policies that include the development of the supply and demand sectors, as well.

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Guest Column | April 8, 2015

Desalination innovation in the uae.

By Khaled Ballaith, Head of Special Projects – Masdar, and Mohammad El Ramahi, Associate Director,  Asset Management, Engineering and Operations – Masdar

A delegation of prominent UAE government and private sector representatives, organized by Masdar, will be attending the 7 th World Water Forum in Daegu and Gyeongbuk, South Korea, from April 12 to 17. The delegation will showcase the country’s adoption of innovative technologies as a means to ensure a water secure future and address the inter-connected challenges of the energy-water nexus with the global community.

Masdar is Abu Dhabi’s renewable energy company.

Desalination has been the primary source of potable water in arid regions for years, and a critical component of sustaining life, economic growth, and expansion in the Gulf region. The overall installed capacity in this region amounts to around 40 percent of the world’s desalinated water capacity, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) stands the second-largest producer following the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

The UAE relies on desalination as a primary source of potable water. These plants are powered by natural gas and contribute to almost a third of the UAE’s greenhouse gas emissions. In the past, the desalination market in the Middle East was largely driven by strength rather than efficiency, and water production was realized through costly and resource-intensive processes. Traditional desalination techniques are not sustainable methods for long-term water security

Energy consumption in the desalination sector is a typical case where innovation has played an important role, especially in the last decade. The energy consumption of seawater reverse osmosis (SWRO) technology has dropped to levels in the range of 4 to 5 kilowatt-hours per cubic meter (kWh/m 3 ), thanks to both the adoption of more sophisticated energy recovery devices and also to the development of membranes that can operate at higher recovery and better flux.  However, the energy intensity required even by state-of-the-art desalination plants is still high and represents a real barrier to allow a medium- to large-scale desalination plant to be powered economically by a renewable energy source.

Today, however, the situation is shifting as the UAE steers away from this challenge towards a more sustainable direction.  Turning to a more sustainable method of clean water production can minimize long-term costs and reduce carbon emissions. The UAE is committed to further advancing industrial-scale, sustainable desalination technologies capable of meeting the region’s future demand for fresh, clean water. Recognizing the link among energy, water, and food, the UAE is investing heavily in cutting-edge technologies to improve the efficiency and reduce the environmental impact of the desalination process.

By bridging the gap between research and development (R&D) and commercialization, the UAE is providing an opportunity for scale-up of technologies that address water access, while also reaping economic, social, and environmental benefits through capitalizing on the region’s abundance of renewable resources such as solar and geothermal energy.

Masdar, Abu Dhabi’s renewable energy company, launched the Renewable Energy Desalination Programme in January 2013, following a mandate from the capital’s leadership. This forward-thinking mandate directed Masdar to develop and demonstrate advanced and innovative technologies in desalination to both ensure water security and reduce energy consumption in the sector to meet the country’s energy reduction targets.

Model of Masdar's Solar-Powered Desalination Pilot Programme, currently under construction in Ghantoot, Abu Dhabi, to be showcased at the 7th World Water Forum

The goal of this pilot program is to identify industrial-scale and commercially viable desalination technologies that will address sustainable access to water both in the arid region and globally. As such, in February 2013 Masdar invited around 180 companies and organizations in the water desalination industry to participate in the program. The evaluation process was conducted in two phases: qualification, followed by down-selection of four technologies. After a thorough evaluation process, Masdar chose to partner with well-known players in the desalination industry (Abengoa Water, Suez Environnement, and SIDEM/Veolia) and an innovative Californian start-up company, Trevi Systems.

The program’s four pilot plants, located in Ghantoot, Abu Dhabi, are currently under construction and are expected to be operated on a continuous basis for at least 18 months to demonstrate the reliable performance of the developed technologies. The pilot phase intends to demonstrate energy-efficient desalination systems at a small through two categories of seawater desalination technologies: advanced seawater desalination technologies and innovative seawater desalination technologies. The target values for both technologies refer to an annual average and are based on feed water with a concentration of total dissolved solids of 42,000 mg/L and a temperature of 30˚C. It is further noted that the energy consumption values refer to the complete desalination process and include the energy consumption of the feed water intake, pretreatment, desalination, post-treatment, remineralization, brine discharge, and all other auxiliary processes.

Masdar’s Renewable Energy Powered Pilot Programme under construction

Advanced desalination technologies are defined as technologies that are based on commercially proven and used desalination systems (using thermal, membrane, or other processes) and that are further optimized and improved as part of the scope of the program to reduce the specific energy consumption of the system and to enhance its compatibility for coupling with renewable energy sources. The advanced technologies for this pilot are expected to have the potential to lower energy consumption to reach less than 3.6 kWh/m 3 of electric energy for reverse osmosis (RO) plants.

Innovative desalination technologies are defined as technologies that are based on novel concepts for seawater desalination that are not necessarily based on commercially proven or used processes.  The innovative desalination technologies for the initial phase of the pilot shall have the potential to lower the specific energy consumption to reach less than 3.1 kWh/m 3 of electric energy for membrane processes.

Following the initial 18-month piloting phase, Masdar will implement the second phase of the program. Phase 2 envisages the large-scale deployment and implementation of the developed energy-efficient desalination technologies, including one or more large-scale desalination plants, in the UAE and wider MENA region, powered by geothermal, solar ponds, solar thermal collectors, photovoltaic (PV) systems, concentrated solar power, wind turbines, ocean energy, or a combination of the plethora of clean energy sources noted above.

In collaboration with the desalination program partners, Masdar’s academic arm, Masdar Institute, is at the same time performing different R&D projects complimentary to the program. The R&D projects cover topics such as the study, evaluation, and mitigation of membrane scaling and fouling in membrane distillation; optimized design of a full-scale, solar-energy-powered SWRO; capacitive de-ionization for treatment of permeates from the first pass RO; and development and testing of novel forward osmosis membranes and manufacturing techniques.

The pilot program, which specifies sustainability and energy efficiency as the primary focus, represents a novel approach to an industry-wide challenge and is designed to create the right synergies between the academic and research worlds, industry, and public institutions. Initiatives such as Masdar’s pilot program demonstrate the UAE’s commitment to offering the best of its minds and facilities to help solve some of the region’s and world’s most pressing needs

With the UAE Innovation Strategy driving government entities to increasingly dedicate resources to research and innovation projects, we are confident that more research collaborations will come to fruition in 2015, helping draw the region closer to its ambitious but critical sustainable development goals, and devising innovative solutions for the world at large.

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Dubai’s focus on solar, desalination, and technology is making it a clean energy hub

The future of the UAE’s utility sector is being shaped around a smarter and cleaner approach to energy – and leading this transition is Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA). By using disruptive technologies in the production, transmission and distribution of electricity and water, it is transforming Dubai into a global hub for clean energy.

Coming together as a nation

The diversification of Dubai’s energy mix comes as a response to the Dubai Clean Energy Strategy 2050 and the Dubai Net-Zero Carbon Emissions Strategy 2050, which aims to provide 100% of the city’s energy production capacity from clean energy sources by 2050.

It also sits under the United Arab Emirates (UAE) Net-Zero by 2050 Strategy, which has pledged AED 600 billion (USD 163 billion) toward the growing demand for clean energy. This initiative not only marks the first of its kind to come from the Middle East and North Africa but positions the UAE as an international pioneer in responsible energy solutions.

Shaping a green future

At the 8th World Government Summit (WGS) in Dubai on 29-30 March 2022, HE Saeed Mohammed Al Tayer, Managing Director, and CEO of DEWA, delivered his speech titled ‘Shaping a Green Future’. In front of a global audience of government officials, industry experts, and decision-makers, he showcased the opportunity around energy and how DEWA is making the most of it.

Its strategy for ensuring energy security and sustainability in the UAE includes three main pillars:

Pillar one: Solar energy

Dedicated to utilizing natural energy sources, DEWA has begun the construction of the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park, the world’s largest single-site solar park based on the Independent Power Producer (IPP) model. And with an investment totaling AED 50 billion (USD 13.6 billion), it is by no means a small feat.

Once completed, the solar park will contribute toward the share of clean energy capacity in Dubai’s energy mix, which is expected to reach 13.8% by the end of 2022. It will also save over 6.5 million tons of carbon emissions a year and reach a production capacity of 5,000 megawatts (MW) by 2030.

Pillar two: Responsible desalination

Alongside Reverse Osmosis (RO), solar energy is to play an important role in water desalination, taking over from electricity generation. This comes as part of DEWA’s strategy to produce 100% of desalinated water from renewable energy and waste heat by 2030.

Increasing the operational efficiency of a sustainable water desalination process will save around AED 13 billion (USD 3.5 billion) and reduce 44 million tons of carbon emissions within the same timeframe.

Pillar three: Revolutionary technology

The final piece of DEWA’s strategic puzzle comes in the form of innovation. As Al Tayer explains, “DEWA recognizes the role of modern technologies in developing the energy and water sectors and redefining the concept of utilities to achieve the vision and directives of the UAE.”

By tapping into disruptive applications, DEWA is expanding the possibilities of utilities.

As part of its Space-D program, the utility company has launched DEWA-SAT1, a nanosatellite that captures data from solar power plants and water systems to monitor performance. It is also looking to power over 1,000 charging stations for electric vehicles (EVs) across Dubai in the next three years.

A solutions-focused approach

Even with a clear strategy in place, the transition to clean energy comes with its challenges, including a renewable alternative to energy storage. However, according to a study by McKinsey, long-duration energy storage (LDES) deployment is an ideal solution. It could result in the prevention of 1.5-2.3 gigatons of CO 2 equivalent per year by 2040 or around 10-15% of today’s power sector emissions.

The sustainable qualities of LDES technology have not gone unnoticed by DEWA. Already, it’s launched the first 250 MW-storage hydroelectric power plant in the Arabian Gulf region. And, in collaboration with Expo 2020 Dubai, it has inaugurated the Green Hydrogen project, which works to produce and store hydrogen from solar energy.

LDES has the potential to deploy up to 2.5 terawatts of power capacity by 2040. McKinsey & Company

Zero signs of slowing down

Through its digital arm, DEWA is disrupting the entire business of public utilities to match the pace of Dubai’s own digital transformation and sustainable infrastructure – and it is already seeing results. Between 2006 and 2021, DEWA increased fuel consumption efficiency up to 90%, and generation efficiency by over 37%.

But disruption doesn’t end there. In his WGS speech, Al Tayer announced “an ambitious strategy for green hydrogen, which is expected to be completed by the end of this year. We will also launch a 6U nanosatellite as part of the Space-D program, and we will continue our efforts in innovation and research and development to support Dubai’s efforts to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050.”

How Dubai Electricity and Water Authority is shifting to green energy

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UAE to open three new water desalination plants in 2023 to ensure water security

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UAE donates Dh3 billion for water development assistance to needy countries

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Dubai: The UAE is developing three water desalination plants in Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Umm Al Quwain with a combined capacity of 420 million imperial gallons per day (MIGD) that will raise the country’s total water capacity to 1,590 MIGD when completed by 2023. This was announced by Suhail Al Mazrouei, UAE Minister of Energy and Infrastructure, during the opening of the three-day fifth Arab Water Forum (AWF5) in Dubai on today.

The three-day AWF5 focuses on water scarcity in the Arab world and the depleting water resources while coming up with innovative solutions to generate water from sustainable sources, in line with the Forum theme — Arab Water Security for Peace and Sustainable Development.

“We need cooperation and collaboration to support the water sector and strengthen efforts to address challenges related to water scarcity. Water is an essential pillar of sustainability, which makes it a strategic priority of the UAE,” noted Al Mazrouei during his keynote speech.

The UAE minister also called to accelerate efforts to address the water challenges “as it is of vital importance to sustainable development, and a factor central to achieving the social, economic and environmental goals and objectives associated with the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals”.

Water development assistance from UAE

Al Mazrouei pointed out that the UAE has made robust contributions in the field of international cooperation by providing water development assistance and sanitation projects to countries in need. “Based on the vision and wisdom of the wise leadership of the UAE, His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, has adopted the National Programme for Demand-Side Management for Energy and Water, with the aim of rationalising consumption to ensure sustainable consumption of energy, water, mining and infrastructure for the happiness and prosperity of society,” Al Mazrouei added.

He also noted that based on the United Nations 2020 report on the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the UAE has achieved 100 per cent in the provision of safe drinking water, sanitation and sanitation services. The UAE has also achieved a score of 79 per cent in integrated water resources management.

Commitment to water security

Held under the patronage of the UAE Ministry of Energy and Infrastructure and supported by the League of Arab States (LAS) and the Ministry of Water Resources and Irrigation of Egypt (MWRI), AWF5 gathered more than 600 delegates and participants from 22 Arab countries pledging strong commitment to water security for peace and sustainable development in the Arab World.

Among the vital issues being discussed at the three-day AWF5 are achieving water, food and energy security as well as climate change and its impact on Arab water security. There are also discussions on water desalination techniques; sharing of water resources in achieving peace and development; effective water management; policies and diplomacy for the management of transboundary waters; enforcing laws and the establishment of effective partnerships for the management of shared water resources.

According to World Bank, the Middle East and North Africa is home to six per cent of the world’s population, but the renewable water supply in this region is less than two per cent in the world. The region is one of the driest in the world — with average per capita water supply of only 1,200 cubic metres, way below or only one-sixth of the global average of 7,000 cubic metres. Experts say most Arab countries cannot meet their current water needs and this will get worse as, according to World Bank, the per capita water availability is expected to be reduced by half in 2050.

Al Mazrouei noted: “The water-related challenges will become tougher in light of the growing demand for water and the scarcity of resources, especially in our Arab region in the coming years. The worsening global climate change and the increase in future demand for water have forced us to undertake more initiatives, dialogue, reflection and joint work to build future capabilities to meet these challenges and overcome. From the Arab Water Forum platform, we reaffirm our strong commitment to continue our efforts to enhance regional and international cooperation in water-related activities and programmes.”

For peace and sustainable development

Prof Dr Mahmoud Abu Zeid, president of the Arab Water Council, said the central theme of AWF5 is international cooperation, “given that the bulk of the renewable water resources in the region needs cross-border cooperation to meet the increasing challenges of water scarcity”. “Enhancing cooperation with regard to water and developing its resources is a vital matter and an urgent necessity. This goal will not be achieved except through full coordination between regional, national and local policies among all relevant sectors and at the global level among other global plans related to water and national goals and objectives,” Abu Zeid underlined.

Loic Fauchon, president of the World Water Council, added: “From the Strait of Gibraltar to the Sultanate of Oman, from Jordan to Sudan, from the West to the East and from the North to the South, the Arab countries are facing a shortage of resources and frequent water stress which is slowing down their development and creating unbearable tensions.”

Fauchon said: “In the Arab countries as in the rest of the world, the future of water depends on the balance between supply and demand. We need to produce more water and consume less. This is what we have been doing for a long time. But this is no longer sufficient, the aquifers are running out and large-scale transfers are increasingly costly and fragile from a security point of view.”

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New solutions, however, deal with the scarcity of water, said Fauchon, adding: “Today, around 20,000 desalination treatment plants are functioning all over the world, with 30 per cent in the Arabic countries. Thanks to reverse osmosis process, costs have been reduced. The only major drawback is that saline and brine discharges create problems for biodiversity when they deposit on land or on shallow coasts.”

Experts also stressed the importance of working towards a cohesive and cooperative international community to enhance integrated water resource management approach and ensure water security and sustainability.

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Dubai Electricity & Water Authority (DEWA) | DEWA’s adoption of Sea Water Reverse Osmosis for water desalination using clean energy enhances efficiency and water security, supporting climate action

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DEWA’s adoption of Sea Water Reverse Osmosis for water desalination using clean energy enhances efficiency and water security, supporting climate action

• HE Saeed Al Tayer: We have a comprehensive approach to ensure the sustainability of water resources by increasing water production capacity using the latest and most efficient water desalination technologies

• DEWA is implementing world’s largest water desalination plant using solar power with investments of AED 3.357 billion

• DEWA aims to increase the water desalination capacity in Dubai to 730 MIGD by 2030

Water security is a national priority for the UAE that federal and local authorities seek to achieve in line with the UAE Water Security Strategy 2036, which aims to ensure sustainable access to water during normal and emergency conditions. The transition to using renewable energy sources to desalinate sea water is a national priority for UAE organisations, and enhances the UAE’s leadership in adopting clean and renewable energy sources.

Comprehensive approach

HE Saeed Mohammed Al Tayer, MD & CEO of Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA), said that Dubai has a comprehensive approach for the sustainability of water resources by increasing water desalination capacity using the latest and most efficient technologies to reduce carbon emissions. He noted that DEWA is building water desalination plants using Sea Water Reverse Osmosis (SWRO) technology, which is more efficient and requires less energy than Multi-Stage Flash distillation (MSF) plants. This reduces carbon emissions and supports the UAE’s efforts in climate work and reducing global warming. This is one of the pillars of the agenda for the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP 28), which the UAE hosted at Expo City Dubai.

“In line with the vision and directives of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, to provide the best facilities for the best city in the world, we at DEWA, work to provide an advanced and integrated infrastructure for energy and water that keeps pace with the growing development path of Dubai and meets the growing demand for electricity and water services. This meets the requirements of the comprehensive sustainable development plans and supports the Dubai 2040 Urban Master Plan. As part of our efforts to enhance water security in Dubai using sustainable sources, we recently signed the Water Purchase Agreement and Shareholder Agreement for the 180 MIGD Hassyan Phase 1 Independent Water Producer project, with an investment of AED 3.357 billion. This project will be the world’s largest solar energy-powered desalination plant. It supports the Dubai Integrated Water Resource Management Strategy 2030, which focuses on enhancing water resources and using cutting-edge technologies and innovative solutions,” added Al Tayer.

Al Tayer explained that DEWA aims to increase its SWRO production capacity to 303 MIGD by 2030. The desalinated water production capacity will reach 730 MIGD in 2030. According to DEWA’s strategy, 100% of desalinated water will be produced by a clean energy mix that uses renewable energy and waste heat by 2030. This will allow Dubai to exceed global targets for using clean energy to desalinate water.

How does SWRO work?

Nasser Lootah, Executive Vice President of Generation at DEWA, explained that SWRO is a highly efficient technology for seawater desalination. This technology reverses the regular osmosis process, where molecules of a liquid pass from a solution of low concentration to a solution of high concentration through a semi-permeable membrane. In sea water reverse osmosis, high pressure is applied to the sea water to force the water through the semi-permeable membrane, leaving salts behind.

Advantages of reverse osmosis

Reverse osmosis technology has several advantages, making it an ideal choice compared to other water desalination technologies. One of its key features that it decouples water production from the dependency on a conventional power plant, thus improving its operational efficiency. Such decoupling enhances operational efficiency and supports the strategic move towards clean energy. Moreover, reverse osmosis plant uses less energy compared to other water desalination technologies such as flash distillation, thereby reducing emissions, environmental impact and costs. Reverse osmosis is highly effective, which makes it a reliable and sustainable solution to produce pure water from various sources, such as sea or underground water. Additionally, reverse osmosis allows for quick and efficient seawater desalination, which makes it suitable for emergency conditions and areas that suffer from water shortages.

DEWA currently has two SWRO plants with a production capacity of 63 MIGD. DEWA’s total production capacity of desalinated water is 490 MIGD

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The Costs and Benefits of Water Desalination in the Gulf

Desalination has been identified as one technology that could help solve Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries’ water scarcity problem. Desalination is a cost-effective technology that can transform an abundance of salt water into a reliable supply of potable fresh water, which at first glance seems to be a panacea to the region’s water needs. That being said, desalination plants do not come without significant environmental costs. Indeed, for a technology that is sometimes misleadingly pitched as a “ post-oil ” technology, desalination plants come with worrying environmental consequences, both now and in the future. Are these costs worth the promise of a secure water supply? And who and what are they likely to impact?

It is also worth assessing the role of desalination as an engine of water diplomacy and examining how desalination might impact the GCC’s geopolitics. Often, desalination technologies are viewed through the lens of national security and water independence, ignoring the ways that desalination research and development, construction, and production are wrapped up in the region’s geopolitical relations.

A Global Leader in Desalination

The Gulf Arab states have long been market leaders in desalination investment and development. Experimentation with desalination technologies dates to the 1890s , and was a response to the water needs of pilgrims to Mecca. However, it was not until the 1950s that the first modern desalination plants were established in Bahrain, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar. In 1965, Saudi Arabia established a general department for the desalination of salt water within the Ministry of Environment, Water and Agriculture, and the country’s first desalination plants were built in Al Wajh and Duba in 1969, followed by Jeddah in 1970 and Khobar in 1973.

The history of water and oil in the region are intimately entwined.

The history of water and oil in the region are intimately entwined. In Saudi Arabia, it was while searching for a reliable water supply for Jeddah that oil was first discovered in the kingdom. It was oil again, and especially the 1973 oil crisis and accompanying price spike, that funded the building of the country’s desalination plants. And it is oil that continues to power the region’s desalination energy demands, with Saudi Arabia using approximately 300,000 barrels of oil per day on desalination.

GCC countries account for some 60 percent of global water desalination capacity, producing around 40 percent of the total desalinated water in the world using over 400 desalination plants across the region. Today the majority of GCC countries are dependent upon desalination plants for their water needs. Approximately 42 percent of the United Arab Emirates’ drinking water comes from desalination plants, while in Kuwait it is 90 percent, in Oman 86 percent, and in Saudi Arabia 70 percent. In terms of quantity of water produced, it is Saudi Arabia that leads; in 2020 it was reported that the country would invest around $80 billion into desalination over the next decade and that its desalination capacity is expected to reach 8.5 million cubic meters per day by 2025.

Powering Desalination in GCC States

Energy inputs for desalination vary depending on what process and what scale are being used, as well as on efficiency. Reverse osmosis membrane-based technologies are more energy efficient than thermal desalination, and countries are therefore moving toward using such technologies, which now account for 60 percent of capacity in Oman and about half of capacity in Saudi Arabia.

Encouragingly, technological improvements are steadily decreasing the energy requirements of desalination plants, and in 2021 Saudi Arabia’s Saline Water Conversion Corporation set a new record for the lowest energy desalination plant in the world, using 2.27 kWh per cubic meter of treated water. That being said, when compared to other water recycling technologies, desalination remains relatively energy intensive. In comparison, large wastewater treatment plants currently require , on average, 0.13­–0.79 kWh per cubic meter of treated water.

Moreover, there are few signs that GCC countries are willing to be more frugal in their water consumption. Generous state subsidies keep water prices low , but demand has increased in the domestic, industrial, and agricultural sectors so that today the annual per capital water use in GCC countries is 560 liters per day, compared with a global average of 180. Saudi Arabia is now the third largest per capita water consumer in the world after the United States and Canada. And the region’s nations certainly have a taste for water-intensive megaprojects. For example, it was estimated that during the 2022 World Cup in Qatar each football pitch required 10,000 liters of desalinated water per day.

A potential solution to desalination’s energy requirements is to tie desalination plants to renewable energy resources. This strategy has been pursued by NEOM, a planned “smart city” initiative in Saudi Arabia, which in June 2022 announced a project with French energy company Veolia and Japanese trading company Itochu that will develop a reverse osmosis desalination facility entirely powered by renewable energy. Expected to be completed in 2025, the plant will produce 500,000 cubic meters of water a day, meeting 30 percent of NEOM’s anticipated water demand. Other solar powered desalination plants in the region include the Al-Khafji Desalination Solar Facility, also in Saudi Arabia, as well as solar powered desalination projects in the UAE and Oman .

Desalination’s Ecological Impacts

The waters of the Gulf are now believed to be 25 percent saltier than typical seawater . In part, this is a result of the Gulf containing naturally saltier waters than other seas. However, brine water discharge from desalination plants is contributing to changing the ecology of the Gulf, which is now considered one of the most anthropogenically affected regions in the world. It is estimated that around 55 percent of the world’s brine is produced by Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Kuwait, and Qatar. Desalination plants dump brine water, which is heavily loaded with salt particles, often discharged at high temperatures, and contains other trace chemicals and heavy metals, into the Gulf. The situation is further compounded by the oil and gas sector, which also disposes of brine during the extraction process.

The effect of desalination activities on ecosystems remains under studied, and some recent research has suggested that the effects of brine water on the environment may have been overstated . But there is growing evidence that desalination waste products reduce water’s oxygen content, inhibit the growth of aquatic organisms, and decrease biodiversity. In the Arabian Gulf, with its fragile shallow-water marine ecosystems, desalination has the potential to destroy the last remnants of its ecologically significant mosaic of tidal mangroves, mudflats, and sabkhas (flat depressions covered with salt crust).

Aware of the ecological impacts of brine discharge, in 2020 UAE national initiative Sandooq Al Watan launched the “Rethink Brine” challenge which rewards innovative uses for brine discharge. And in 2021, the UAE’s National Pavilion at the 2021 Venice Architecture Biennale won an award for an exhibition titled Wetland, which showcased a cement that uses waste brine, reducing the ecological footprint of both water desalination and concrete manufacturing.

Desalination Diplomacy

As other states across the Arab world and further afield look to desalination as a solution to their water needs, there are signs that desalination diplomacy may become an important political tool, with GCC countries able to take advantage of their position as first movers in the sector, exporting technology, know-how, and even water to other states in the region. For example, the annual MENA Desalination Projects Forum has become an important event for regional and international stakeholders to showcase the latest developments in desalination technology.

Desalination negates some of the key drivers of water conflict. Most obviously, when relying on sea water rather than river water, it reduces the tensions that can develop between upstream and downstream riparian states, such as have occurred between Egypt and Ethiopia over the latter’s construction of a new dam. In recognition of the potential peace-building promise of desalination, the Middle East Desalination Research Center was established in Muscat in 1996 as part of the post-Gulf War Middle East peace process. The center seeks “to address significant regional or transboundary environmental challenges” via the cross-border sharing of scientific and technological expertise, and has been described as the “crowning glory” of the entire peace process.

When relying on sea water rather than river water, desalination reduces the tensions that can develop between upstream and downstream riparian states.

That being said, desalination may also become the locus of political conflict and produce its own geopolitical dynamics. For example, Gulf states must contend with their reliance on the same body of water for their potable water needs. As has been noted , the Gulf’s waters have become a water security concern. Dotted with offshore oil rigs and plied by the world’s largest oil tankers, an oil spill there would have the potential to disrupt the water supply of multiple Gulf countries. Moreover, security analysts have pointed to the potential threat of an attack targeting a country’s desalination infrastructure, noting that their coastal locations make them particularly vulnerable. The First Gulf War offers a clue as to how desalination infrastructure might be targeted during a conflict. In 1991, as the Iraqi Army retreated from Kuwait, former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein destroyed the country’s desalination plant and then released Kuwaiti oil into the Gulf, creating a large oil slick and disrupting the wider region’s desalination plants. There are concerns that a potential cross-Gulf conflict with Iran could again see water infrastructure targeted during wartime.

Prospects for a Green Desalination Future?

Despite these precarious vulnerabilities and security concerns, desalination technologies appear “locked in” and will define the water politics of the region in the near future. Desalination was top of the agenda at the United Nations’ 2023 water conference; Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 plan foregrounds desalination technologies; and it is estimated that by 2030 desalination capacity across the MENA region will have doubled. It is therefore important to develop strategies to reduce the carbon footprint of desalination. With this in mind, it is possible to identify three key interventions that would “green” each stage of the desalination process, reducing its energy inputs and waste outputs.

First, desalination must be fundamentally decoupled from its historic reliance on hydrocarbons. It is encouraging that new desalination plants are being linked to solar energy sources, but this needs to occur faster and more comprehensively if desalination is to become a truly green technology. Second, desalination should be located within a holistic, whole-of-system approach to water infrastructure. GCC countries have been slower to establish water reuse infrastructure and wastewater treatment plants. They would therefore do well to look for inspiration to Singapore, a state that has successfully implemented effective water recycling technologies and water saving policies through its “ four taps ” policy. Third, further research and development should be targeted at how brine might be incorporated into the circular economy. As the “Rethink Brine” challenge has demonstrated, it is possible to design innovative solutions for desalination waste products, reducing the amount of brine that is released into the region’s ecosystems. With the environmental costs of desalination adding up, GCC countries must act now to reshape the industry for the future.

The views expressed in this publication are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect the position of Arab Center Washington DC, its staff, or its Board of Directors.

Featured image credit: Shutterstock/Stanislav71

Achref Chibani

Tunisian journalist specializing in climate issues

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• Review Article
• Published: 05 April 2016

Materials for next-generation desalination and water purification membranes

• Jay R. Werber 1 ,
• Chinedum O. Osuji 1 &
• Menachem Elimelech 1  

Nature Reviews Materials volume  1 , Article number:  16018 ( 2016 ) Cite this article

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An Erratum to this article was published on 17 May 2016

Membrane-based separations for water purification and desalination have been increasingly applied to address the global challenges of water scarcity and the pollution of aquatic environments. However, progress in water purification membranes has been constrained by the inherent limitations of conventional membrane materials. Recent advances in methods for controlling the structure and chemical functionality in polymer films can potentially lead to new classes of membranes for water purification. In this Review, we first discuss the state of the art of existing membrane technologies for water purification and desalination, highlight their inherent limitations and establish the urgent requirements for next-generation membranes. We then describe molecular-level design approaches towards fabricating highly selective membranes, focusing on novel materials such as aquaporin, synthetic nanochannels, graphene and self-assembled block copolymers and small molecules. Finally, we highlight promising membrane surface modification approaches that minimize interfacial interactions and enhance fouling resistance.

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Acknowledgements

The authors acknowledge support received from the US National Science Foundation (NSF) under award numbers CBET-1437630 and CMMI-1246804 and through the NSF Nanosystems Engineering Research Center for Nanotechnology-Enabled Water Treatment (ERC-1449500). The authors also acknowledge the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship awarded to J.R.W.

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Werber, J., Osuji, C. & Elimelech, M. Materials for next-generation desalination and water purification membranes. Nat Rev Mater 1 , 16018 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1038/natrevmats.2016.18

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Middle East increasingly reliant on desalination plants as water shortages loom

Desalination plants are vital if the world is to have enough water to drink. can technology make them more efficient and less harmful to our seas.

August 17, 2023

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The UAE needs to desalinate seawater to make it potable. This page provides information about the desalination plants and dams in the UAE and government's efforts and strategies to ensure water security.

Water Security Strategy 2036

Desalination plants, supporting global efforts to provide potable water.

The UAE Water Security Strategy 2036 aims to ensure sustainability and continuous access to water during normal and extreme emergency conditions.

The strategy was developed from a comprehensive national perspective to cover all elements of the water supply chain in the country with the participation of all entities and authorities concerned with water resources in the country.  The strategy aims to:

• implement integrated water resources management by reducing total demand for water resources by 21 percent
• increase the water productivity index to USD 110 per cubic metre
• substantially increase water-use efficiency across all sectors and ensure sustainable withdrawals and supply of freshwater to address water scarcity and substantially reduce the number of people suffering from water scarcity, by reducing the water scarcity index by 3 degrees
• improve water quality by reducing pollution, eliminating dumping and minimising the release of hazardous chemicals and materials and substantially increasing recycling and safe reuse of treated water to 95 percent
• achieve universal and equitable access to safe and affordable drinking water for all by increasing national water storage capacity.

Read more about the  UAE Water Security Strategy 2036  and  UAE's efforts in providing clean water and sanitation . 

The  National Water and Energy Demand Management Programme  targets 40 per cent efficiency of the three most energy-consuming sectors  in the UAE : transport, industry and construction.

The programme includes three main  pillars : Energy, water and consumption rationalisation.

The UAE has limited natural water resources. It uses thermal desalination as the dominant technology to make seawater potable. Today, most of the country's potable water (42 per cent of the total water requirement) comes from some 70 major desalination plants, which account for around 14 per cent of the world's total production of desalinated water.

Due to lack of freshwater sources, it is important for the UAE to identify a sustainable desalination solution to meet long-term water needs. Connecting desalination technologies to renewable energy is one solution.

The water consumed in the UAE is mainly desalinated, dependent on electricity in case of reverse osmosis, or a by-product of electricity generation through multiple-effect distillation (MED) and multiple-stage flash distillation (MSF).

According to State of Energy Report 2015, the demand for water grew largely at a rate of 35.8 percent from 2008 to 2012. The installed capacity for desalinated and groundwater reached 1,585 million imperial gallons per day, while water production was 393,878 million imperial gallons per year.

Some of the desalination plants in the UAE include:

• Shuweihat S2 power and water plant in Abu Dhabi: It has a production capacity of 1510 Mega Watt (MW) of electricity and 100 Million Imperial Gallons (MIGD) of water per day
• Jebel Ali power station in Dubai: It is the largest power and desalination plant in the UAE, with six gas turbines capable of producing 2060 MW and 140 MIGD of water.
• F2 Plant in Fujairah: It is a greenfield power generation and seawater desalination plant with 2850 MW of power capacity and 230 MIGD of water.

The UAE has paid great attention to dams and rainwater harvesting projects. Dams contribute to protection from floods and flow risks and improve the quality and quantity of the water situation in the aquifer by increasing the feeding rates of groundwater.

Dams in the UAE include:

• Wadi Al Beeh dam (Length: 575 metres, height: 18 metres)

The dam is located in the northern part of Ras Al Khaimah (RAK) in Al Beeh Wadi. It is constructed to feed the underground water. It supplies water to Al Burairat and Al Hamraniya in RAK.

• Wadi Ghalfa dam (Length: 235 metres, height: 8 metres)

The dam is located in the Masfout region in Wadi Ghalfa, a middle agricultural region and is constructed to feed the underground water.

• Wadi Wareaa dam (Length: 367 metres, height: 33 metres)

The dam is located in the eastern agricultural region of the UAE, Wadi Wareaa. It slopes from Masafi hill and pours into Gulf of Oman. It is constructed to feed the groundwater and protect the area from floods. It feeds the areas of Al Badiya and Khor Fakkan.

• Wadi Basira dam (Length: 885 metres, height: 8 metres)

The dam is located in the eastern agricultural region of the UAE, in Wadi Basira. It is constructed to feed the groundwater areas in Dibba and protect the area from floods.

• Wadi Ham dam (Length: 2800 metres, height: 16 metres)

It is located in the eastern region of the UAE in Fujairah and is constructed to feed the underground water, protect the area from floods and enhance water quality. The dam feeds the local areas in Fujairah and Kalba.

• Wadi Azan dam (Length: 110 metres, height: 10 metres)

It is considered as a small dam which impounds water and mitigates its speed. It is located in the northern agricultural region in Wadi Azan and constructed to feed the underground water. It feeds Azan and Al Hamraniyah areas.

• Wadi Al Ghail dam (Length: 26 metres, height: 4.5 metres)

It is located in the northern region in Wadi Al Ghail. It is constructed to supply irrigation water for Al Ghail area and feed the underground water.

The UAE saves no effort in expanding international cooperation and capacity-building support to developing countries in water and sanitation-related activities and programmes, including water harvesting, desalination, water efficiency, wastewater treatment, recycling and reuse technologies.

The Mohamed bin Zayed Water initiative aims to confront the urgent challenge of water scarcity around the world. It also  aims to enhance awareness of the severity of the crisis of water scarcity and accelerate the pace of technological innovation to deal with the challenges it poses

Suqia - UAE Water Aid   is a non-profit organisation established to support international efforts to provide potable clean water to people in need around the world and to contribute to finding permanent, sustainable and innovative solutions to water scarcity.

The UAE Water Aid Foundation also conducts studies and researches in coordination and partnership with educational, academic, and international organisations to support water production using solar power, and contributes to financing and supporting water-technology projects to combat drought.

The ‘Suqia’ campaign was launched to provide access to fresh drinking water for 5 million people around the world. The campaign, which was supervised by the UAE Red Crescent, received an overwhelming response and was a remarkable success. It surpassed its targets, collecting over AED180 million in 18 days, which is enough to provide water to over 7 million people around the world.

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Assessing ro and nf desalination technologies for irrigation-grade water.

1. Introduction

2. methodology, 2.1. irrigation water quality, 2.2. salinity and sodium hazards (ec and sar).

Click here to enlarge figure

2.3. Specific Ion Toxicity

2.3.1. sodium toxicity, 2.3.2. chloride toxicity, 2.3.3. bicarbonate toxicity, 2.4. the model of irrigation water quality index (iwqi), 3. experimental data, 4. desalination system and simulation, 5. experiments and validation of the model, 6. results and discussion, 6.1. assessment of source water quality, 6.2. permeated water assessment, 6.4. rejection, 6.5. specific energy consumption, 7. conclusions, supplementary materials, author contributions, data availability statement, conflicts of interest.

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Share and Cite

Elmenshawy, M.R.; Shalaby, S.M.; M. Armanuos, A.; Elshinnawy, A.I.; Mujtaba, I.M.; Gado, T.A. Assessing RO and NF Desalination Technologies for Irrigation-Grade Water. Processes 2024 , 12 , 1866. https://doi.org/10.3390/pr12091866

Elmenshawy MR, Shalaby SM, M. Armanuos A, Elshinnawy AI, Mujtaba IM, Gado TA. Assessing RO and NF Desalination Technologies for Irrigation-Grade Water. Processes . 2024; 12(9):1866. https://doi.org/10.3390/pr12091866

Elmenshawy, Mohamed R., Saleh M. Shalaby, Asaad M. Armanuos, Ahmed I. Elshinnawy, Iqbal M. Mujtaba, and Tamer A. Gado. 2024. "Assessing RO and NF Desalination Technologies for Irrigation-Grade Water" Processes 12, no. 9: 1866. https://doi.org/10.3390/pr12091866

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