Dubai, one of the driest regions in the world, is experiencing an increase in water demand due to its growing population, thereby prompting the development of new water production technologies.
By 2025, two-thirds of the world’s population may face water shortages. Technology can be used in many ways, from regulating the climate to providing drinking water and extracting water from the air.
Dubai stands out among other arid regions in the world for developing unique water production technologies, such as cloud seeding.
Cloud seeding is a weather manipulation technique that enhances a cloud’s rain-producing ability. Before using an aircraft for seeding, meteorologists must select the appropriate cloud to seed.
This process works only on hills because of the upward drafts of air. Pilots maneuver their planes under the cloud’s base and launch rockets filled with hygroscopic salt particles.
As the particles of sodium chloride and potassium chloride rise toward the cloud body, they attract small water droplets into the cloud. These droplets combine and grow into larger raindrops, which then fall from the sky due to their weight.
This method is a valuable water source for areas where annual precipitation is low, as it requires minimal energy consumption. An hour of cloud seeding can provide 100,000 cubic meters of water.
More than 50 countries globally seed clouds. This process is not only used to increase rainfall, but also to reduce hailstone size in colder regions, which can significantly reduce storm damage by preventing hail from falling.
In arid regions with only a few lakes or rivers, such as Dubai, residents rely on desalination plants for more than 90% of their drinking water.
Large-scale desalination facilities can produce vast amounts of potable water using reverse osmosis techniques. Vanesa Fernandez Membrillera from O&M ACCIONA points out that desalination is trendy in the Gulf region saying “Saltwater represents 98% of the World’s water sources and we have a shortage of fresh drinking water. This process’s main advantage is this.”
Facilities like the Jebel Ali Desalination Plant are designed to reduce water consumption by up to 30% by 2030, as part of the ‘Dubai Integrated Water Management Strategy.
Hydroelectric panels can generate drinking water from air humidity using solar energy. Furthermore, water parks that employ this technology can produce water without requiring an energy source, thus avoiding the additional cost.
Sofia Berglund from Source Global explains how hydroelectric panels could be useful in regions with air pollution: “Before mineralisation, there is only pure H2O in the water. There is no pollution, nothing can enter the water.”
Dr. Said El Hassan, founder of Manhattan, also suggests that in certain parts of Europe, more solar energy can be generated compared to desert climates because rain pushes sand and dust particles to the ground, thus clearing the air.
As the world’s population increases exponentially, water consumption also continues to rise. Innovations like these in water production are crucial in finding new ways to stay hydrated.
