Only a few decades ago, there was neither running water nor electricity in the UAE.
Residents used donkeys to transport water across short distances. In Abu Dhabi, people gathered at the central water station in Al Bateen once or twice a week, to collect water in large containers and store at home. In Al Ain, oases provided meagre water for farming and living, and groundwater was extracted most commonly through shallow, hand-dug wells or more rarely through man-made underground channels of the falaj.
Portable generators fuelled by kerosene became common after the second World War, and local governments started generating electricity in Dubai and Abu Dhabi in the late 1950s and early 1960s. But by the time the UAE was established in 1971, mains power was still confined to the towns and oilfields. Major investments by the Federal Ministry of Electricity and Water, and by local authorities in Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Sharjah, quickly extended the transmission network. Within two decades the UAE had a substantial network of power supplies, which relied on gas-fuelled power plants that were cheaper and more environmentally-friendly than diesel.
The power plants also doubled up as desalination plants for fresh water greatly increasing their overall productivity.
By the 2000s the UAE was looking for more sustainable sources for power and water, and started to build a large nuclear power plant in Al Barakah in Abu Dhabi, and several large solar arrays in Abu Dhabi and Dubai.
Key Dates
1961 – Dubai’s first central water supply connects 86,777 households.
1970 – Abu Dhabi’s first Multi-Stage Flash (MSF) desalination plant opens, with a capacity of 12 migpd (million imperial gallons per day).
1995 – World’s largest MSF desalination plant opens in Dubai; Jebel Ali Station G produces 60 migpd.
2011 – World’s largest hybrid power and desalination plant (MSF and RO) opens in Fujairah, with a power capacity of 2,000 MW (megawatts) and 100 migpd per day.
2013 – The UAE’s largest combined power and desalination plant opens in Dubai; Jebel Ali M. Station has a capacity of 2.060 MW of electricity and 140 migpd per day.
2014 – UAE Water Aid Foundation (Suqia) is established, aims to provide clean water to 5 million people worldwide.