Air conditioners to be additional water source

Water released from air conditioners will be used in the UAE as an additional and cost-efficient source of drinking water, an expert said yesterday at the launch of the Al Qatra Sustainability Project, a public campaign at the Emirates Centre for Strategic Studies and Research (ECSSR). Al Qatra, which translates into a "drop of water", is a campaign aimed at maximising the utilisation of water from air conditioners. Speaking at the launch, Dr Abdullah Bin Mohammad Yousuf Al Shaibani said around 100 litres of fresh water is released daily by each air conditioner of 2.5 tonne capacity. "This wasted water can be used for drinking after purification, for watering plants or stored in containers for fire extinguishing, thus saving millions of litres in the long run," he added. Al Shaibani, who has implemented the project where he lives, said the surplus water from air conditioners was shown to be the purest among his test samples. "Research shows that it takes 1.5 million barrels of oil to sweeten 24 million cubic litres of water," Al Shaibani said. "The plan for this new water resource will cost only ten per cent of what it currently costs to purify groundwater to make it suitable for drinking as it requires very minimum purification," he added. "Over ten years ago, the Abu Dhabi municipality issued building standards which require extension pipes to empty the surplus water from air conditioners into drainage basins," he said. "This is the foundation for what we are trying to achieve. All we need to do now is reallocate our water resources." Al Shaibani called on officials from both public and private sectors to take action and implement the small changes needed in villas, buildings and industrial areas to implement this process. Water for life More than 100 litres of fresh water is released from each air conditioner of 2.5-tonne capacity. The UAE population is expected to reach 53.5 million by the year 2020 at a growth rate of three per cent per year. Each UAE citizen consumes about 300 litres of water per day. Annually, the UAE consumes 4.5 billion cubic litres of water, a third of which is provided by groundwater. It takes 1.5 million barrels of oil to sweeten 24 million cubic litres of water.