Abu Dhabi pumps about 2,100 million m3 of groundwater a year, around 20 times the natural recharge of its aquifers, the Environment Agency – Abu Dhabi reported in February 2021. Only 3% of the emirate's groundwater reserves can be considered fresh. Another 79% has become highly saline and 18% is brackish.
The largest source by far
Groundwater makes up around 60% of the water the emirate uses, against approximately 30% from desalination and 10% from treated wastewater, according to the same agency. The 2,100 million m3 pumped a year is about 1.7 times the 1,236 million m3 that the emirate's desalination plants produced in 2021.
A separate problem from the network
The municipal network runs on desalinated seawater, and its performance is strong: in 2023 only 0.0078% of water transmitted to the two distribution companies went unsupplied because of transmission interruptions. Capacity planning by the Emirates Water and Electricity Company concentrates on reverse osmosis plants for that network. It does not cover the aquifers.
Recycled water is the main gain
Reuse is rising. The Department of Energy reports recycled water production of 334 million m3 in 2023, with 72% reused, up from 60% in 2020. The Department also launched the emirate's first Integrated Water Model in October 2021 to simulate allocation of desalinated, recycled and ground water across agriculture, households, industry and the environment.
Which institutions oversee each source, how network performance and water quality have moved since 2018, and how demand forecasts to 2033 bear on capacity planning are examined in the full report. The full report, Water Systems Overview: Department of Energy, Abu Dhabi Emirate, is available for USD 499 at https://ourfuturewaterintelligence.com/reports/water-systems-overview-department-of-energy-abu-dhabi-emirate. For a free overview, read the Department of Energy, Abu Dhabi Emirate Utility Snapshot at https://ourfuturewaterintelligence.com/utilities/department-of-energy-abu-dhabi-emirate.