Abu Dhabi has completed work on the world’s largest underground water reserve, it was revealed at the World Future Energy Summit (WFES) in Abu Dhabi on 15 January.

The details of the project, which contains a network of 315 recovery wells lying up to 80 metres below ground level in the Liwa Desert, were announced by Saif al-Seari, acting director general of Abu Dhabi Water & Electricity Authority (Adwea).

The project was completed at an estimated cost of AED1.6bn ($435m), revealed Al-Seari. The reserve currently holds more than 26 million cubic metres of water, and has been designed to deliver a fallback pumping capacity of 100 million gallons of water a day if required. The wells are fed by water by pipeline from the Shuweihat desalination plant, which provides water at a rate of 7 million imperial gallons a day (MIGD) for a period of 27 months.