About 100,000 cubic metres a day of untreated sewage is being delivered in about 3,000 sewage tankers serving housing, industry and labour camps not connected to Dubai’s main sewage system.
“The throughput in the Al-Aweer sewage treatment plant compares with its design capacity of 260,000 cubic metres a day,” Al-Abdooli told MEED’s Wastewater Treatment & Reuse 2007 conference.
One consequence is a deterioration in the quality of treated sewage effluent, she said.
About 75 per cent is used in irrigation in Dubai and the rest is dumped in Dubai Creek.
UAE Minister of Environment & Water Mohammed Saeed al-Kindi said that most of the country’s treated effluent is being recycled.