BY PMA RASHEED
The Gulf Today, 29 March 2010
The UAE Ministry of Environment and Water (MOEW) is currently preparing an advanced data management system titled "Water Resources Information System (WRIS)".
"The WRIS would address the country's a wide range of issues related to water consumption, such as irrigation, population growth and dependence on alternative water sources," said Dr Mohamed Al-Mulla, Director of Water Resources at the MOEW.
"The WRIS will mainly address the most significant issue of the existing water resources in the country," he pointed out.
Dr Al Mulla was speaking on the occasion of the ministry's programme to observe the World Water Day 2010. The programme has been organised in tandem with wastewater treatment solutions provider Concorde-Corodex Group (CCG).
The Sharjah Museums Department (SMD) also organised a "World Water Day" conference at the Sharjah Aquarium aimed at promoting clean water for a healthy world and drawing public attention to water resources and habitats.
Manal Ataya, Director General of the SMD, said, "The water supplies on the planet have been impacted adversely by population growth, unsustainable consumption patterns, poor management practices, pollution and inadequate investment in infrastructure. Clean water is integral to life, health and sustainability."
Dr Al Mulla explained, "The WRIS has been developed using hydro geo-analyst and manager software (Schlumberger 2009) and would have a database structure that allows importing, exporting and storing of all data related to water resources."
"The database would have more advanced tools, like complex querying, borehole log plotting, 3D interpolation and visualisation, time series charting, reporting and different types of visualisation," he said.
According to Mahmood Awad, Managing Director of the CCG, actions should be taken with partnership of both public private sectors to overcome the water-related worries.
"However, there are efforts to tackle the issue through various stages of water cycle right from the drinking water generation, sewage transportation to wastewater treatment and reuse," he added.
"Demand is growing for new technologies to facilitate the water purification process. The Middle East is considered an arid zone with almost negligible natural fresh water resources, which have recently reached crisis levels," said Ahmed Al Shuha, Technical Director of the CCG.
"The portable water and water treatment industries in the region are under heavy pressures to increase their efficiency, by investing more in technologies for water conservation and water recycling," he added.
"There are different ranges of technologies specialised in converting sewage back to potable water that may be used for many non-potable industrial applications. The potable quality water can be used for the likes of district cooling, car wash, and oil and gas industries," explained Al Shuha.
According to him, awareness should be created about the best practices and proven technologies to treat water and wastewater in most possible efficient way.
Manal said, "Partnerships between governments, international organizations, private businesses and civil society are crucial to finding common solutions for enhancing water use efficiency."
"Marking The World Water Day is an important opportunity for highlighting the scope of the challenge and for strengthening these partnerships and together with our communities we can all start to take steps towards positive change," she added.
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