Dubai: The UAE has a shortage of water resources therefore it must come up with solutions, said Reem Abdullah, Emirati student at the Hamdan Bin Mohammad Smart University (HBMSU).
Reem, currently doing her masters in Science in Public Health, displayed a group project demonstrating the consequences of water shortage in the UAE at the Innovation Arabia 8 conference held at the Address Hotel. During the Learners Research and Posters Exhibition, Reem spoke to visitors about possible solutions to the issue.
“Out of the Gulf countries, the UAE is the country suffering most from scarcity of water,” she said.
“There are solutions such as rain, desalination and grey water but there is much more to consider since desalination is expensive and it rarely rains in the country.”
Reem explained that grey water is wastewater that can be reused for irrigation rather than using sweet water or ground water.
“However, the issue with that is people might not accept eating vegetables or fruits that were grown with grey water,” she said. “But grey water can be useful for watering plants and trees on the road.”
The poster Reem displayed next to her as she spoke to attendees showed that conservation practices can result in a 14-17 per cent saving of water, according to the Federal Electricity and Water Authority (Fewa).
Another statistic by the World Bank demonstrated that the demand for desalination is projected to increase by 7.7 per cent in the UAE and that groundwater recharge will further decrease by 40 per cent or more.
Thekra Hussain, a student from the Hamdan Bin Mohammad Smart University from Yemen, said that with a new smart application residents can monitor their water use to begin conservation efforts.
“There’s a recommendation to use a smart application to track utility bills and a text message will be sent once you’ve reached the limit,” said Thekra. “It’s like a warning every once in a while for people to be careful.”
She said that their participation in the conference is to raise awareness since several people are not informed about the issue. Both Thekra and Reem agreed that much of their knowledge was attained from their master’s programme and it is now their duty to pass on the information to the public through their presentation in the conference.
The Innovation Arabia 8 conference, held under the patronage of Shaikh Hamdan Bin Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai and President of the Hamdan Bin Mohammad Smart University, commenced yesterday and will run until February 18 under the theme ‘Industrial Design and Technologies Towards Smart Learning’.
The conference will encourage students, researchers, experts, academics and stakeholders in the education sector to demonstrate efforts to incorporate smart learning in their projects.
Maria Botros is a trainee at Gulf News
