UAE Annual Desalination Spending Rises

The UAE will spend $3.2bn per year by 2016 on building and operating desalination plants, which is a 305% increase compared with current spending.

According to a report by Global Water Intelligence, UAE’s current desalination capacity is 8,885,366m³ per day, which is expected to rise to 13,700,138m³ per day by 2016.

By 2016 the cost of operating existing plants and planned new plants will rise to $973.5m compared with $682.3m in 2010.

The report says the increase in expenditure on desalination is part of a global trend to find alternative water resources in the face of growing scarcity.