Why in the UAE ?

Water is a fundamental part of our lives. It is the most essential component for sustenance after oxygen. It sustains humans’ health, food production and economic development. This unique natural resource has supplies and sources, economic, social and political characteristics that make it different from the other existing resources. Recent economical developments in the world are somewhat based on the availability of water in sufficient quantity and that’s why water deficiency is considered an important issue in the developing regions.

Water scarcity is the moment in time, at which there is scarcity in water supply, water access or water usability that the total demand by all sectors, including the environment, cannot be fully satisfied. Desertification, land degradation, increasing population, climate change anddrought have negative impact on theavailability, quantity and quality of waterresources which result in water scarcity.

 In the last few decades, life in the UAE has changed dramatically. Development and the increase in population during the last 20 years have resulted in increased consumption of large quantities of ground water for irrigation, industrial and domestic. In comparison, UAE has one of the highest water consumption levels in the world compared to Western countries due to climatic conditions and high per capita income [6]. The demand is increasing year-on-year due to growth of population and growth in tourism, as the UAE also supports 'transit population' which increases the demand of water consumption.

Since water scarcity has become a big concern here in the UAE, our team decided to go deeper in this issue to understand its causes and provide some recommendations and solutions that will hopefully solve this problem in the country.