An integrated water resources management strategy for Al-Ain City, United Arab Emirates

M M Mohamed

doi:10.5194/piahs-364-273-2014

Abstract

Abstract. Al-Ain is the second largest city in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi and the third in the UAE. Currently, desalination plants are the only source of drinking water in the city with an average daily supply of 170 MIG. Recently, Abu Dhabi Urban Planning Council (UPC) released Al-Ain 2030 Plan. Projects suggested in this plan, over and above the expected natural population growth, will certainly put additional stress on the water resources in the city. Therefore, Al-Ain city seems to be in urgent need for an integrated water resources management strategy towards achieving sustainable development. This strategy will contain three main components; namely, a Water Demand Forecasting Model (WDFM), a Water Budget Model (WBM), and a Water Resources Optimization Model (WROM). The main aim of this paper is to present the WBM that estimates all inflows and outflows to assess water resources sustainability in the city.

Highlights

The Abu Dhabi Emirate is one of the seven Emirates which comprise the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and occupies an area of 67 340 km2 or about 80% of the total area of the UAE (Fig. 1)
The consequences of this problem could range from immediate threats such as flooding of house basements, deterioration of roads, land subsidence causing soils collapse, and damage to building foundations and structures due to settlements, and to long-term environmental threats such as contamination of soils and groundwater, which could lead to complications to human health
In order to reach a robust integration among all these elements, the management strategy must be multidisciplinary to account for all these aspects related to the water system under consideration (Khan 2012, Wood 2012)

Summary

INTRODUCTION

The Abu Dhabi Emirate is one of the seven Emirates which comprise the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and occupies an area of 67 340 km or about 80% of the total area of the UAE (Fig. 1). The Emirate has an arid climate with less than 100 mm/year average rainfall, a very high evaporation rate (2–3 m/year), a low groundwater recharge rate (

BACKGROUND

Findings

SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS