Groundwater systems in Dubai:

SheikhMohammad Al Maktoum created Dubai out of scratch. The discovery for water resources remained ambiguous. How did a multibillion-dollar city manage to create the water supply in the middle of nowhere? The costs of initial investments were extremely high, but higher risk yields greater reward. We will study how Dubai’s natural water resources have impacted the changing environment.

Dubai has two water purification systems. Natural groundwater recharge produces approximately 300 million cubic meters per year and Brackish groundwater is used for the irrigation of date palms, but produces only 200 million cubic meters of water annually. 90% of the groundwater has salt, so relying on two irrigation systems to remove the salt is pivotal to help with the increasing demand of consumers. This is important for zone of aeration because water and air occupy the pore spaces below the surface.

Zone of aeration: Air and water in pores 

Zone of saturation: 

Groundwater is the main “natural” resource for Dubai. The total volume of natural groundwater resource accounts for only 3% of the total water supply. Desalination plants that make sweater potable constitute the remaining 97% of Dubai’s water.  Therefore, Dubai doesn’t get its water naturally, so it relies on alternative resources such as water irrigation systems to extract water resources. A country that has more oil and money, but no water, the cost of purchasing a Dasani water bottle is higher than a liter of gas. Over-abstraction caused a sharp drop in fresh groundwater, salt-water intrusion from the sea in coastal regions in lower stratigraphic units, and water quality problems causing a rise in nitrate concentrations, are all three examples of how Dubai is currently facing environmental water issues due to rapid expansion. This has caused the ground below the water table to cause significant problems for the location due to its sensitivity of its geographic desert location.

Desalination plants supply a vast majority of the drinking water for the Dubai; however, the plants are costly to run and are negatively impacting the Persian Gulf sea.

http://blogs.ei.columbia.edu/2010/11/22/parched-for-peace-the-uae-has-oil-and-money-but-no-water/