Abu Dhabi to introduce new wastewater regulations

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The emirate’s regulator will phase in a pair of new wastewater policies over the next two years. They underline the growing importance of water reuse in the Gulf.

Abu Dhabi’s Regulation and Supervision Bureau is in the process of drafting new policies that will provide an overarching regulatory code for two key areas of the emirate’s wastewater sector. The first will cover the reuse of wastewater residuals, while the second will cover the discharge of industrial trade effluent.

Treated effluent, one of the wastewater residuals that will be covered by the first regulation, is a valuable commodity in Abu Dhabi. The city’s extensive irrigation network and the increasing popularity of district cooling systems have created a demand for treated effluent that currently outstrips supply.

The provisions of the upcoming legislation are unlikely to stifle the burgeoning market for treated effluent, though any company which intends to introduce a wastewater treatment and reuse scheme will have to obtain a licence from the RSB. The collection, treatment and disposal of wastewater will remain licensed activities.

The Abu Dhabi Sewerage Services Company’s (ADSSC) total wastewater treatment capacity is set to increase to approximately one million m3/d by mid- 2011, but despite this expansion in the production of treated effluent, anxiety remains among some of the developers behind the large offshore projects close to Abu Dhabi Island that they will not receive sufficient supplies of treated effluent from the mainland for their developments.

The speed at which irrigation and district cooling requirements can swallow up treated effluent is such that the leading developers are now looking closely at incorporating closed-cycle reuse systems. Indications from ADSSC suggest that those developments that are looking to introduce grey water reuse are likely to be limited to smaller, localised systems, at least for the time being.

The capital cost and logistical difficulties of integrating a new large-scale grey water pipe network into the existing reticulation system will limit the viability of the concept.

Nevertheless, any grey water reuse systems that are introduced will be within the scope of the new wastewater residuals reuse regulation.

The indication from the RSB has been that they will aim to licence at the level of the master developer for such projects, rather than at the contractor level. The regulation will stipulate the range of approved end uses for treated effluent, and companies will be able to apply for a particular end use to gain approved status. Question marks remain over the separate issue of tariff proposals from licence holders, and the approach that will be adopted in the new regulation towards this sensitive area is as yet unclear.

The second piece of proposed regulation will cover the discharge of wastewater from industrial or commercial activities. The amount of trade effluent discharged into Abu Dhabi’s sewers is set to increase substantially as the emirate’s industrial base grows.

The main strand of the regulation will be a system of consent imposed on companies who want to discharge into public sewers. Companies will be required to make an application to their sewerage services company in order to do so.

As Collin Hannan, director of water services at the RSB, explains, “The thinking is that by controlling what goes in, we can protect what comes out.”

The actual process of obtaining consent will be established in a second public consultation, which will take place during the first quarter of 2009. The consent will cover the amount that can be discharged, as well as the load within that flow.

A phased implementation process is planned for the new regulations during 2009 and 2010, with full compliance expected to be introduced in the second quarter of 2010.

Abu Dhabi has established itself as the regional leader in the water reuse sector, and with the temperature and salinity of the Gulf slowly increasing, the commercial opportunities in water reuse applications beyond irrigation are becoming increasingly attractive.

The RSB will be hoping that its new regulatory initiatives will provide clarity to companies which are looking to exploit them.