Informatics, Logistics and Governance in Water Treatment Processes

Increasing demands of water for diverse uses of domestic, agricultural, and industrial consumption, both in quantity and quality, pose tremendous pressure on the need of well articulated management approaches. Such approaches are expected to address several challenges such as limited supplies, deteriorated quality of available and produced water, conflicting interests of public stakeholders and groups, adverse environmental and ecological impacts, climate changes, etc. Large number of these approaches exist and still evolve and develop for different purpose including data management, operation and governance, conjunctive management of water and energy, asset management, and intelligent systems in water treatment process

Evaluation of policy scenarios for water resources planning and management in an arid region

Study region Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates (UAE). Study focus Water demand in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi (EAD) has increased significantly over the last few decades. Hence, a main challenge for the EAD water policy makers is to develop long-term resilient water resources strategies. This study evaluates future water supply-demand condition in the EAD and identifies water management strategies that support a sustainable future. A dynamic water budget modelling framework is used to evaluate future water demand as affected by population growth, economic growth, proposed water related policies, consumption patterns, and climate change. The Abu Dhabi Dynamic Water Budget Model (ADWBM) is used to construct future water scenarios and assess the status of the EAD water system until 2050 in terms of water supply-demand balance. This study presents four suites of water scenarios, namely: Business as Usual (BAU), Policy First (PF), Sustainability by Conservation (SC), and Rainfall Enhanced Sustainability (RES) scenarios. New hydrological insights Simulation results indicate that both SC and RES scenarios achieved balanced water budget without any shortage throughout the entire period until 2050. The RES scenario is recommended for adoption because of the reasonable and achievable proposed consumption reductions needed in the different demand sectors. The obtained results should be valuable for devising appropriate strategies to prevent potential future water shortages in the Emirate

Quantitative assessment of residential water end uses and greywater generation in the City of Al Ain

Diversification of water sources and water demand reduction are two vital tools in maintaining the security of urban water supplies in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Reuse of greywater for non-potable end uses can be an effective alternative, but this resource has not yet received much attention in the UAE. Since the generation of greywater significantly differs from country to country – depending on age, gender, habits, lifestyle, living standards and the degree of water abundance – an attempt was made to estimate internal water consumption and greywater generation in the city of Al Ain, UAE. The frequency and water requirement for personal water uses (e.g. showers, ablutions, teeth brushing, hand washing, face washing and toilet flushing) and family water uses (e.g. laundry, dish washing and house cleaning) were estimated from about 100 villa-type detached homes randomly distributed across the city. A frequency analysis was carried out using normal, lognormal, gamma and logistic distribution. The estimated average generation rate of greywater was found to be 192 litres per capita per day, which is about 69% of the average internal water consumption. The generated greywater originates from showers (49%), ablutions (18%), laundry (10%) and washbasins (23%). Based on average quantities, it was shown that the generated greywater is sufficient to fulfil the non-potable water demand in houses, but further, more rigorous, investigation is required

Treatment of concrete wash wastewater from ready-mix concrete operations

© 2013 Balaban Desalination Publications. All rights reserved. Wash wastewater generated from ready-mix concrete (RMC) drums poses major environmental problems due to its high alkalinity and elevated heavy metal contents that need to be removed prior to disposal. The present study aims at developing a technology that will be able to reduce chromium and strontium concentrations as well as effluent pH to acceptable disposal levels set by various environmental agencies. Representative samples of wash wastewaters from RMC trucks were prepared and different treatment technologies were evaluated for their efficiencies of removing chromium and strontium present in solution. Sample characterizations indicated that the alkaline wash wastewater contained elevated concentrations of chromium and strontium at levels of 2.59 and 12.26 mg/l, respectively. Treatment of wash wastewater with barium chloride lowered the chromium to non-detectable limits. Whilst treatment with disodium hydrogen phosphate lowered the strontium to less than 0.063 mg/l, it is then hypothesized that sequence treatment of barium chloride, disodium hydrogen phosphate, and carbon dioxide bubbling will result in an effluent solution with acceptable disposal characteristics that satisfy regulatory bodies

Development of a dynamic water budget model for Abu Dhabi Emirate, UAE

In this study, a dynamic water budget model is developed for the Emirate of Abu Dhabi (EAD) in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The model, called Abu Dhabi Water Budget Model (ADWBM), accounts for a number of drivers such as population growth, economic growth, consumption pattern and climatic factors. Model formulation, calibration, validation as well as simulation results for two future situations are presented in this paper. The two water simulations discuss demand-side options in response to different future water conditions until 2050. The first simulation, namely, baseline (BL) simulation examined water balance in the emirate assuming no change in both water production and consumption. BL simulation results highlight the expected shortages in water resources assuming no modification in the supply side. The second simulation, a more conservative and practical simulation considering water conservation options and sustainable improvements to the supply side was developed to achieve a balanced water budget by reducing the baseline consumption rates. The results show that a significant demand reduction is needed in all demand sectors, reaching 60% in the potable sectors and above 70% in non-potable sectors. Overall, results show that the ADWBM can be used as a numerical tool to produce accurate figures of water supply and demand for the sake of planning and decision making in the water sector of the EAD until 2050.Environment agency Abu DhabiOpen access journalThis item from the UA Faculty Publications collection is made available by the University of Arizona with support from the University of Arizona Libraries. If you have questions, please contact us at [email protected]