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The World Future Energy Summit will discuss investments in the water sector.

Summit to focus on GCC water initiatives

01 December 2019

The GCC’s $80 billion investment in world-leading water and wastewater sustainability initiatives will take centre stage at the Water Expo & Forum, part of the World Future Energy Summit 2020, to be held in Abu Dhabi, UAE.

World Future Energy Summit, hosted by Masdar and part of Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week, is the largest event of its type in the Middle East and among the largest in the world. The event attracted about 800 exhibitors and 33,500 attendees in 2019.

The summit will be held from January 13 to 16, at the Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre (Adnec). Taking UAE water innovations to a global audience, the Abu Dhabi Sewerage Services Company is the event’s strategic partner.

Water demand is rapidly rising throughout the world, and especially across the GCC, because of factors such as growth in population, urbanisation, agricultural and industrial projects, and real estate development. A recent report by Meed Insights shows that the GCC’s water demand is set to increase by 62 per cent by 2025, and the region is investing $80 billion in water and wastewater projects.

Strategies are being rolled out across the GCC to conserve and reuse water resources. For example, the UAE Water Security Strategy 2036 aims to reduce water demand by 21 per cent and increase reuse of treated water by 95 per cent. Similarly, Saudi Arabia’s Qatrah initiative plans to cut daily per capita water consumption by nearly half from 263 litres to 150 litres by 2030. One of the biggest sectors for water sustainability is agriculture, which is responsible for 82 per cent of the kingdom’s non-renewable water consumption.

Supporting water sustainability across the GCC and the world, the Water Expo & Forum will bring together hundreds of water and wastewater manufacturers and suppliers, public and private sector business and technology innovators, and global thought leaders to showcase the latest solutions and exchange best practices in water and wastewater sustainability.

Prominent Water Expo exhibitors will include Andritz Group, among Austria’s leading firms for special industry plants, equipment, and services; BMC Gulf, a Dubai-based engineering firm; Hepworth, a Dubai-based manufacturer and marketer of integrated piping systems; and Turan Makina, a Turkey-headquartered multi-national manufacturer of plastic piping systems.

During the Water Forum, visitors can attend keynotes and panels on efficient water management, GCC water security priorities, mitigating natural and unnatural threats to water security, water in the digital age, desalination, agricultural water innovations, maximising water reuse, water aid, scaling up new water resources, and KPIs and funding.

Grant Tuchten, group event director, World Future Energy Summit, said: “Our Water Expo & Forum will bring together the regional and global water public and private sector players to tackle the biggest challenges of water scarcity.”