Water demand predicted in Abu Dhabi for the next 20 years

The Abu Dhabi Water & Electricity Company (ADWEC) has forecast water demand levels up until the year 2030 using a risk-based methodology.

The move comes as the city relies almost entirely on desalinated seawater for its portable water requirements and will need to forecast accurately the amount needed in future years to reduce operation, costs and environmental impact of the desalination process.

Required by the regulatory body of Abu Dhabi to use such measures to assess water demand and required capacity, the company is using Palisade's @RISK software to determine the quantity of water required over specific timescales, such as per capita water consumption rates and the rate of population growth.

Variables used to predict such figures are based on water demand categories such as domestic, agricultural and industrial.

It is hoped that by undertaking risk analysis of the variables involved in assessing demand and supply, ADWEC will minimise the potential for water production capacity to be over or under deployed.

Mohammad Al-Hajjiri, head of the water forecasting in ADWEC's Planning and Studies Directorate, said: "In Abu Dhabi, potable water is a scarce resource and we depend on seawater desalination for producing it. So we need to plan its production carefully."