Dubai Boom's Underside: Sewage Woes ...

Excerpt from Wall Street Journal:

Dubai's sewage woes

31 May 2008

Dubai - United Arab Emirates - This Persian Gulf sheikdom, in the middle of a massive building and tourism boom, has a big sewage problem.

By one estimate, some $300 billion in new projects are going up in Dubai in the next 10 years -- including the world's tallest building and a man-made archipelago of luxury homes on islands shaped like palm trees.

But Dubai's single, 30-year-old sewage-treatment plant isn't keeping up. Sewage output here is rising by 25% a year. That has officials in this city-state, one of seven emirates that make up the UAE, scrambling for innovative places to store the waste, or ways to put it to good use.

In Mirdiff, an area popular with upper- and middle-income expatriates, city officials have installed underground sewage tanks between newly built villas. The tanks are designed to store raw sewage until homes are connected to the city's main sewage system. But the tanks, which are emptied by tanker trucks two to three times a month, sometimes overflow before they are drained, residents say.

The smell is unbearable, says Egyptian Mohamed El Hady Ibrahim Salah, a company car driver. "I hate to think what it will be like in the summer heat."

At International City, a development close to the Dubai sewage plant, sewage recently overflowed into the development's streets, submerging roads and parking areas. The development, which caters to middle- and lower-income expatriates, was built by government-owned Nakheel, the same developer of the emirate's palm-shaped islands. A Nakheel spokesman says that the overflow was the result of a "surge in the sewage system" and that it has cleaned up the spill. Residents still contend with foul odors.

Every day, hundreds of tanker trucks line up for almost two miles at the three approaches to the Dubai treatment plant to dump sewage. The wait can be as long as 10 hours, drivers say.

In order to avoid the wait and processing fees, some truckers have been discharging loads onto streets of desolate areas in the city, Dubai officials say, adding that they have fined several violators.

"We're trying to educate people about the problems of doing this," says Ijaz Ahmed Thir, from the municipality's drainage and irrigation department. "We've got teams of people on the streets to impose heavy fines when they find the culprits."

Aisha al Abdooli, head of operations at Dubai's sewage-treatment department, says the city is doing all it can to cope with the rising amounts of sewage. A big expansion project to boost capacity is under way at Dubai's current plant, and a new $500 million sewage-treatment plant is being built at nearby Jebel Ali. The first phase of the new plant is scheduled to open in April 2009, and a second phase a year later.

In the meantime, Mrs. Abdooli says some of the city's excess "tertiary-treated sewage effluent" is used to water the landscaping and public gardens that now dot much of this desert city. That is shorthand for treated sewage.

"Most of the city's green areas and public parks are irrigated with this water," she says.

The practice is increasingly used in other places, but it still comes as a surprise to many Western visitors and residents, who aren't used to smelly sprinklers. There could also be health concerns if the water isn't treated properly. A Dubai Ministry of Health spokeswoman didn't respond to emailed questions about the safety of the system.

At Dubai's Arabian Ranches, a development of million-dollar homes, parents whisk children inside when the sprinkler systems start working.

"I try to keep them away from grassy areas as much as possible," says one English expatriate. The developer of the project, Emaar Properties PJSC, says it uses some of the water from the Dubai plant for irrigation, as well as treated water from its own, smaller plants.

"We are aware that the authorities have taken measures to reduce odor problems, and such measures have had some success," says an Emaar spokeswoman.

John Robins, managing director of a media group here, quickly closes the top of his convertible when he drives along a Dubai boulevard where sprinklers are watering the landscaped medians.

"It's quite nauseous," he says."

end.