The UAE is a hot and dry desert region with hardly any rainfall. How do we get our drinking water?
There are two sources of drinking water here:
Groundwater:
Most of the water we use comes from under the ground. Water comes down from the clouds as rain and it forms streams, lakes and seas. Some of it is absorbed by the soil and is stored underground. In the UAE, groundwater does not go too deep because of the sandy nature of the soil. The water also tends to get salty, as the water seeps under the ground through the sands. So the water is desalinated or made salt free to enable us to drink it.
Fossil groundwater:
We also have fossil groundwater, which is present deep down below the surface of the earth in rocks. This is called ‘fossil water’ because it has seeped into the rocks over millions of years and has remained untouched because it lies too deep in the earth. If it is removed with modern technology, it cannot be replaced like the main source of groundwater.
Desalinated water:
What is desalination?
Since groundwater resources are very limited, the UAE also supplies desalinated water from the sea to supplement the shortage of groundwater. Desalination is an expensive process whereby the government sets up huge plants to distil the water and rid it of the salt in the groundwater.