Water resource management in the context of a non-potable water reuse case study in arid climate

Abstract

This study evaluates an existing non-potable water system serving outdoor services for a medical facility case study (MFCS) in Abu Dhabi (AD), United Arab Emirates, using mixed methods research to identify water demand and availability of non-potable water, and to optimize water reuse for reducing waste, energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions (GHG). The MFCS footprint includes 50% landscaping. The water used for irrigation is from non-clinical/non-potable water, treated condensate water, a by-product of air conditioning. For 5 months per year, there is a predicted non-potable water deficit, so costly and non-sustainable desalinated potable water is required for irrigation. The findings include that there is a non-potable water deficit due to an excessive consumption for landscape irrigation (LI) and water features (WF), and that 177,288 m3 of condensate and desalinated water was wasted (equivalent to 71 Olympic swimming pools). The contribution of this research is to demonstrate that water wastage, a contributor to GHG emissions, is due to inadequate field testing and verification, water tank storage problems and a lack of LI and WF water demand management. Strategies to address these issues are suggested and will be useful to building owners, operations and maintenance teams and facility managers to substantially decrease water consumption in any type of buildings with a non-potable water system, as well as helping AD to achieve its target of a 22% reduction in GHG emissions by 2030 (Environment Agency- Abu Dhabi (EAD 2017)).