Abu Dhabi plans to recycle all treated effluent

11 December 2007
Abu Dhabi plans to recycle all its treated sewage by the start of 2010, according to Alan Thomson, managing director of the Abu Dhabi Sewage Services Company.

He told MEED’s Wastewater Treatment & Reuse 2007 conference that contracts would soon be awarded to recycle of all of the water produced by its sewage treatment plants.
Abu Dhabi’s two main sewage treatment plants in Abu Dhabi city and Al-Ain are producing 150,000 cubic metres a day of water that could be used for recycling, said Thomson.
The plant at Mafraq near Abu Dhabi city pumps its daily surplus of 120,000 cubic metres into the Gulf.
The Zakher plant in Al-Ain pumps 30,000 cubic metres a day into a desert lagoon.
“Contracts will be awarded to create infrastructure that will allow all the surplus water to be used by the end of 2009 or by early 2010,” said Thomson.
The surplus water will be used in irrigation.
Thomson said that he would be interested in proposals for water to be used for other purposes, including in cooling systems.
“At present, however, our only customers are the municipalities of Abu Dhabi and Al-Ain,” he said.

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