Abu Dhabi officials yesterday said demand for water and electricity in the emirate of Abu Dhabi is expected to rise to 962 million gallons per day and 19630 megawatts, respectively, by 2023, officials of the Abu Dhabi Water and Electricity Authority (ADWEA) noted yesterday during a seminar held at Al Bateen Majlis. 

Based on this outlook the utility is acting on directives from the leaders to meet the increasing residential and industrial demand for power with new projects, Chairman of ADEWA, Abdullah Ali Musleh Al Ahbabi, said during a seminar, titled "Together to Save our Natural Resources". A group of senior officials were in attendance. 

He recalled that His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, had said (in December 2011) that water is more important than oil in the United Arab Emirates. 

Al Ahbabi further noted that Abu Dhabi also meets part of the demand for power and water in other emirates. 

Acting Managing Director of the Abu Dhabi Distribution Company (ADDC), Saeed Mohammed Al Suwaidi, said 500 million gallons of water, with a quality of 96 percent (one of the world's highest rates) are pumped every day to the emirate's residential, government, industrial, commercial and agricultural sectors. 

The current capacity of the emirate's power station stands at 6000 megawatts per hour, he said. 

In Abu Dhabi, scarcity of natural resources, population growth, expanding urban development, rising demand for power and water, as well as the environmental footprint and high costs of power and water production, all pose fundamental challenges to the emirate's water and electricity sector, Al Suwaidi noted. 

Source: WAM