Earlier this summer the UAE began to export the technology required to extract one of the essential commodities in the world we live in today. Not oil or gas but water.
In May it was announced that the country would send 14 mobile desalination plants, which make seawater potable, to Cyprus, currently facing a water crisis exacerbated by a prolonged drought.
It might seem strange, even contradictory, for a desert country, arid for much of the year, to come to the rescue of another entirely surrounded by water. But few people understand the value of water for life like those in the Emirates.
Searching for water was a daily task until the 1960s. Desert wells were essential for nomadic life, while in the town of Abu Dhabi, water was obtained by digging “scrapes” in the sand to a depth where the salinity was reduced to permit drinking.
Rulers recognised the importance of water above almost everything. Sheikh Shakhbout, Ruler of Abu Dhabi from 1928 to 1966, regarded the search for clean water as equal if not important as finding oil.
In the later 1950s, just as oil was being discovered in the Emirate, Sheikh Shakhbout even resorted to employing two English colonels who claimed to be water diviners, promising them generous rewards if successful. Unfortunately they were not.
Technology proved a better bet. In 1961, the Ruler ordered one of the earliest examples of an industrial desalination plant from the British engineering company Richardson & Westgarth of West Hartlepool.
After teething problems caused by the heat, by the following year the plant was producing 50,000 litres of clean water a day, distributed across Abu Dhabi in cans carried by donkeys. At a price of around one dirham a gallon (4.55 litres) it was more expensive than the market price of crude oil.
Later a pipeline was laid to carry water from wells in Al Ain over 130 kilometres to Abu Dhabi, held in a huge water tank in Khalidiya. It can still be seen to this day.
Today the UAE has about 70 desalination plants producing over 40 per cent of the country’s drinking water using a process known as reverse osmosis. Abu Dhabi’s Taweelah plant, operated by Emirates Water and Electricity (Ewec) is the largest of its type in the world, producing over 800,000 cubic metres a day.
The expertise the UAE enjoys in water technology is now shared with the rest of the world. UAE Water Aid (Suqia UAE) was established in 2015 in Dubai to provide clean water in 10 countries including Afghanistan, Pakistan, India and Iraq.
Funded by donations, in the first year alone over Dh180 million was raised across the Emirates. The annual Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Global Water Award supports initiatives to support global water security with US$1 million in prize money.
In the words of Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, Vice President and Ruler of Dubai “In our country, water is a great blessing. Our ancestors had been deprived of water, thus they knew its value.”
Red flags
- Promises of high, fixed or 'guaranteed' returns.
- Unregulated structured products or complex investments often used to bypass traditional safeguards.
- Lack of clear information, vague language, no access to audited financials.
- Overseas companies targeting investors in other jurisdictions - this can make legal recovery difficult.
- Hard-selling tactics - creating urgency, offering 'exclusive' deals.
Courtesy: Carol Glynn, founder of Conscious Finance Coaching
Gertrude Bell's life in focus
A feature film
At one point, two feature films were in the works, but only German director Werner Herzog’s project starring Nicole Kidman would be made. While there were high hopes he would do a worthy job of directing the biopic, when Queen of the Desert arrived in 2015 it was a disappointment. Critics panned the film, in which Herzog largely glossed over Bell’s political work in favour of her ill-fated romances.
A documentary
A project that did do justice to Bell arrived the next year: Sabine Krayenbuhl and Zeva Oelbaum’s Letters from Baghdad: The Extraordinary Life and Times of Gertrude Bell. Drawing on more than 1,000 pieces of archival footage, 1,700 documents and 1,600 letters, the filmmakers painstakingly pieced together a compelling narrative that managed to convey both the depth of Bell’s experience and her tortured love life.
Books, letters and archives
Two biographies have been written about Bell, and both are worth reading: Georgina Howell’s 2006 book Queen of the Desert and Janet Wallach’s 1996 effort Desert Queen. Bell published several books documenting her travels and there are also several volumes of her letters, although they are hard to find in print. Original documents are housed at the Gertrude Bell Archive at the University of Newcastle, which has an online catalogue.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
MATCH INFO
Europa League semi-final, second leg
Atletico Madrid (1) v Arsenal (1)
Where: Wanda Metropolitano
When: Thursday, May 3
Live: On BeIN Sports HD
Company%20profile
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ABU DHABI ORDER OF PLAY
Starting at 10am:
Daria Kasatkina v Qiang Wang
Veronika Kudermetova v Annet Kontaveit (10)
Maria Sakkari (9) v Anastasia Potapova
Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova v Ons Jabeur (15)
Donna Vekic (16) v Bernarda Pera
Ekaterina Alexandrova v Zarina Diyas
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
BIGGEST CYBER SECURITY INCIDENTS IN RECENT TIMES
SolarWinds supply chain attack: Came to light in December 2020 but had taken root for several months, compromising major tech companies, governments and its entities
Microsoft Exchange server exploitation: March 2021; attackers used a vulnerability to steal emails
Kaseya attack: July 2021; ransomware hit perpetrated REvil, resulting in severe downtime for more than 1,000 companies
Log4j breach: December 2021; attackers exploited the Java-written code to inflitrate businesses and governments
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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More on Palestine-Israeli relations
Rocketman
Director: Dexter Fletcher
Starring: Taron Egerton, Richard Madden, Jamie Bell
Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
The stats
Ship name: MSC Bellissima
Ship class: Meraviglia Class
Delivery date: February 27, 2019
Gross tonnage: 171,598 GT
Passenger capacity: 5,686
Crew members: 1,536
Number of cabins: 2,217
Length: 315.3 metres
Maximum speed: 22.7 knots (42kph)
