A large proportion of water usage in homes in Abu Dhabi came from tap usage, requiring future initiatives to reduce excessive tap use, according to a recent survey.

The controlling of water leakage and managing irrigation practices are two key sources of water saving, said the Residential End Use of Water (REUW) project conducted by Waterwise, a part of Abu Dhabi Regulation and Supervision Bureau.

The project aimed to collect and analyse residential water end use data in unprecedented details from as many as 150 medium-sized villas from preselected gated communities in Abu Dhabi, a trial which ran for approximately 18 months.

The results were revealed at the recently concluded International Water Summit 2015 (IWS 2015).

Khadija Bin Braik, head of Waterwise, said: “The residential sector in Abu Dhabi consumes around 50 per cent of the desalinated water produced for the emirate. Understanding when, where and how water is used in a household can provide vital information for the development of effective water management strategies.”

The project achieved its goals of collecting accurate statistics of residential water use, and determining the split between indoor and outdoor water-use in the Abu Dhabi environment.  It also identified and explored the scale of water leaks.  

“The project’s results and data will help inform decisions and strategies for future water management and conservation programmes in Abu Dhabi,” added Bin Braik.

Each of the 150 participating villas were fitted with a meter and data logger capable of remotely transferring data.

Using the latest technology data was collected every 10 seconds at a resolution of 0.05 litres per pulse, enabling very precise results.  This made it possible to disaggregate the water use in the homes into individual water use events, and to categorise the events by end-use.  All the data received was then analysed.

“The results of the REUW project are extremely important as they provide real baseline data on water use within medium sised villas in in Abu Dhabi,” said Bin Braik.

“These results will help in supporting demand forecasting models and future water conservation programmes. We can also use the data to address specific areas when communicating with our different target audiences.”

“Changing our consumption habits is crucial. Water is a precious resource that we need to conserve and save to ensure a sustainable future for our Emirate,” he added. - TradeArabia News Service