Latest news with #MohamedbinZayedWaterInitiative
Al Etihad
23-06-2025
- Politics
- Al Etihad
Al Marar leads UAE delegation to 51st OIC Council of Foreign Ministers
23 June 2025 18:23 ISTANBUL (WAM) Minister of State, Khalifa Shaheen Al Marar, led the UAE delegation to the 51st session of the Council of Foreign Ministers of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), which was held under the theme 'The Organisation of Islamic Cooperation in a Transforming World' from June 21-22 in the session, the UAE's delegation affirmed the importance of advancing joint efforts to address regional and international challenges, while focusing on dialogue and diplomacy as essential tools to resolving the delegation emphasised the UAE's commitment to consolidating peace and stability, ending extremism and violence, and fostering political solutions to crises, including the Palestinian this regard, the delegation reaffirmed the UAE's categorical rejection of any attempts to forcibly displace Palestinians, stressing the importance of establishing an independent Palestinian state through the two-state delegation underscored the UAE's profound concern over Sudan's humanitarian crisis, and stressed the importance of facilitating a transition toward a civilian-led political process, independent from military control and supported by the international the delegation highlighted the need to implement urgent steps to protect civilians, facilitate the immediate, unhindered delivery of humanitarian aid through all possible means, and prevent either warring party from weaponising or politicising delegation further expressed the UAE's rejection of the baseless allegations made by the Port Sudan Authority, highlighting the ruling of the International Court of Justice on May 5, 2025, to dismiss the case against the UAE. This outcome reaffirms that these allegations were unfounded and lacked any delegation underlined the UAE's continued support for achieving a peaceful solution in Sudan, and emphasised that the UAE has provided over $680 million since the outbreak of the delegation's remarks also underscored the UAE's achievements in the fields of technology, AI, and sustainability, including introducing an AI curriculum in government schools and achieving leading positions in Global Competitiveness the delegation highlighted the UAE's commitment toward a green transition through initiatives such as Net-Zero 2050 and the Mohamed bin Zayed Water Initiative. The delegation also emphasised the UAE's foreign policy commitment to foreign aid and underscored the launch of 'Erth Zayed Philanthropies,' which aligns with the legacy of the UAE's Founding Father, the late Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan.
Daily Maverick
18-06-2025
- Business
- Daily Maverick
Avoiding Day Zero in Gauteng — a comparison with Cape Town's success story
The phrase 'Day Zero' has come to mean that precise moment when a city's water supply is predicted to be depleted, leaving taps dry and local economies in crisis. It entered the global lexicon in 2018 when the City of Cape Town was confronted with an acute water crisis. The actual Day Zero was estimated to be in April that year, with three different dates, depending on the models being used. With a population of more than four million people requiring water, the city's executives were forced to implement strict water reductions on the public and corporations in the city. With these severe water restrictions, the city was able to replenish its water resources and it announced that 'Day Zero' had been averted. That single event captured the attention of the global media, which ran stories in many countries. It has now triggered the XPRIZE after the Mohamed bin Zayed Water Initiative offered a $119-million cash incentive to radically alter the future role of desalination technology solutions. Cape Town managed to avert its Day Zero crisis through an aggressive review and application of innovative policy, supported by intensive communication designed to build consensus, retain social cohesion in times of crisis and change human behaviour. But trust in the government was eroded and is unfortunately still in deficit, as is manifested by the festering issue of sewage discharge into aquatic ecosystems. Analysis of this strategy has shown that water security requires a mix of solutions, with no single silver bullet being viable. A water secure Gauteng These lessons have been fed into the Platform for a Water Secure Gauteng (PWSG), which has been created to avoid Day Zero in the heart of the South African economy. A lot of the energy that fuelled the Day Zero narrative was hype, and the one lesson that I have learnt from three decades in the international water sector is the role of nuance in every water-related problem. In short, things are always different in various geographic locations, so I have become sceptical of simple silver-bullet solutions, often touted by over-enthusiastic solution-providers that seldom understand the complexity of the problem being managed. It therefore becomes instructive to compare the differences and similarities between Cape Town's and Gauteng's Day Zero narratives. Facts are our friends, so let us embrace a few of the most important ones. For starters, both the Western Cape and Gauteng regions are supported by a complex arrangement of institutions, dams, pumps and pipelines, so that is a good point of departure. The Western Cape Water Supply System (WCWSS) stores 890 MCM (million cubic metres), which is two years of average water supply needed for the city of Cape Town and the local economy. There are several dams, including Theewaterskloof, Voëlvlei, Berg River, Wemmershoek, Rockview, Kogelberg and Steenbras Upper and Lower, some of which are interconnected by pipelines, tunnels and distribution networks. The rainfall is naturally a winter event, so storage is needed for the long summer months. Water is cascaded into this system through a series of inter-basin transfers from an adjacent water management area. Now let us compare this with the Integrated Vaal River System that sustains 45% of the South African population and 60% of the national economy. There are a total of 14 major dams, with the most important shown in the diagram, which also indicates the depth of each and the degree of interconnectedness across the whole system. It is managed as a single entity and it has a total storage capacity of 10,554 MCM (million cubic metres), which is about six years of average supply under non-drought conditions. Water is sourced from many different river basins, including the Tugela in KZN and the Malibamat'so in Lesotho. This water is diverted over the Drakensberg Mountains into the Sterkfontein Dam in the case of the Tugela. The energy needed to pump these massive volumes uphill is taken from the Eskom grid as part of a pumped storage scheme needed to put electricity back into the grid during peak energy demand. This problem is solved in the transfer of water from the Katse Dam in Lesotho, where the Muela power plant generates electricity using the constant natural flow of the system. When comparing the two systems, achieving water security in Gauteng is significantly more complex than in Cape Town. This highlights the challenge faced by the respective water boards in each case. Rand Water is one of the largest bulk water suppliers in the world, responsible for guaranteeing water security for almost half the population and two-thirds of the national economy. The challenge in Cape Town is defined by the limited strategic storage of two years. Cape Town is on the coast, so sea water desalination at utility scale (bigger than 50 megalitres per day capacity) is the obvious long-term solution, along with the recovery of water from waste. Both options are part of its strategic plan to achieve water security, with the latter being implemented in a groundwater recharge programme, like the city of Perth. The challenge is restoring public trust and investor confidence damaged by the Day Zero crisis in 2018, but exacerbated by the city's response to public concerns over sewage discharges into aquatic systems such as Milnerton Lagoon. Gauteng's complex challenge The challenge in Gauteng is different and more complex, so Rand Water will be confronted by demands on its decision-making capacity on an unprecedented scale. I have previously written about the sewage challenge (see Understanding the sewage challenge facing Gauteng's water supply), suggesting that Rand Water might have to start considering the recovery of water from waste to achieve two outcomes – mitigate the risk of sewage pollution of the Vaal and augmentation of supply to industrial users that might not need potable water for their processes. Gauteng will also be forced to consider the desalination of acid mine water, and this is where their challenge differs from Cape Town. About 200 megalitres of water can be recovered from acid mine drainage, but the Capex cost will be in the vicinity of R15-billion, with an annual Opex cost of around R2.5-billion. Those are big numbers for a relatively small increase in supply. Furthermore, the disposal of brine is not possible on the Highveld as there is no sea into which it can be discharged. For this reason, desalination is likely to remain non-viable for Rand Water. The good news is that the salinity levels of acid mine water being discharged into rivers is slowly declining, which adds value to the decision not to desalinate. The important take-home message is that maintaining water security in Gauteng will place growing demands on Rand Water in a manner unparalleled by any other water board in South Africa. Its institutional architecture will have to adapt to new business models capable of responding to a set of challenges that will increasingly differ from what it has faced in the past century of its existence. The institutional health of Rand Water will be of increasing importance, so it is in our collective best interest to support it in any way possible. DM
Dubai Eye
29-05-2025
- Business
- Dubai Eye
UAE ship carrying desalination plants arrives in Cyprus
A UAE ship carrying water desalination plants arrived at Limassol Port in Cyprus on Thursday, to provide clean drinking water and support sustainable global water security. The shipment included 14 desalination units based on Reverse Osmosis technology, with a production capacity of up to 15,000 cubic metres per day (3.3 million gallons daily), converting seawater into potable water. The UAE will also provide technical assistance by training engineers and workers on the installation and operation of the plants, thereby enhancing Cyprus's capacity to address water-related challenges. Sultan Al Shamsi, Assistant Minister of Foreign Affairs for Development and International Organisations and Vice Chairman of the UAE Aid Agency, said, 'This initiative demonstrates the robust relations between the UAE and Cyprus, and reflects the UAE's commitment to enhancing international cooperation in the field of water security while providing innovative solutions to global water-related challenges.' He reaffirmed the UAE's commitment to addressing the issue of water scarcity, highlighting the UAE's launch of the 'Mohamed bin Zayed Water Initiative' and the country's upcoming role as co-host of the 2026 UN Water Conference, alongside Senegal.
TAG 91.1
29-05-2025
- Business
- TAG 91.1
UAE ship carrying desalination plants arrives in Cyprus
A UAE ship carrying water desalination plants arrived at Limassol Port in Cyprus on Thursday, to provide clean drinking water and support sustainable global water security. The shipment included 14 desalination units based on Reverse Osmosis technology, with a production capacity of up to 15,000 cubic metres per day (3.3 million gallons daily), converting seawater into potable water. The UAE will also provide technical assistance by training engineers and workers on the installation and operation of the plants, thereby enhancing Cyprus's capacity to address water-related challenges. Sultan Al Shamsi, Assistant Minister of Foreign Affairs for Development and International Organisations and Vice Chairman of the UAE Aid Agency, said, 'This initiative demonstrates the robust relations between the UAE and Cyprus, and reflects the UAE's commitment to enhancing international cooperation in the field of water security while providing innovative solutions to global water-related challenges.' He reaffirmed the UAE's commitment to addressing the issue of water scarcity, highlighting the UAE's launch of the 'Mohamed bin Zayed Water Initiative' and the country's upcoming role as co-host of the 2026 UN Water Conference, alongside Senegal. Al Shamsi emphasised the importance of endeavours like this in advancing the implementation of global pledges aimed at achieving Sustainable Development Goal 6.
Al Etihad
29-05-2025
- Business
- Al Etihad
UAE ship carrying 14 water desalination plants arrives in Cyprus
29 May 2025 18:22 NICOSIA (WAM) As part of the strong bilateral ties between the UAE and Cyprus, a ship carrying water desalination plants has arrived at Limassol Port to provide clean drinking water and support sustainable global water shipment includes 14 desalination units based on Reverse Osmosis technology, with a production capacity of up to 15,000 cubic metres per day (3.3 million gallons daily), converting seawater into potable UAE will also provide technical assistance by training engineers and workers on the installation and operation of the plants, thereby enhancing Cyprus's capacity to address water-related Minister of Foreign Affairs for Development and International Organisations and Vice Chairman of the UAE Aid Agency, Sultan Al Shamsi, said, 'This initiative demonstrates the robust relations between the UAE and Cyprus, and reflects the UAE's commitment to enhancing international cooperation in the field of water security while providing innovative solutions to global water-related challenges.'He reaffirmed the UAE's commitment to addressing the issue of water scarcity, highlighting the UAE's launch of the 'Mohamed bin Zayed Water Initiative' and the country's upcoming role as co-host of the 2026 UN Water Conference, alongside Senegal. Al Shamsi emphasised the importance of these endeavours in advancing the implementation of global pledges aimed at achieving Sustainable Development Goal 6.
