Abu dhabi: The second edition of the Water Quality Forum (WQF) 2025 kicked off today in Abu Dhabi under the theme ‘Innovating for Resilience: Water Quality in a Changing World’. The forum serves as a platform to advance resilience, quality, and safety of water in the region. The event, organised by M42 Environmental Sciences in partnership with the Abu Dhabi Quality and Conformity Council (ADQCC), is taking place at Erth Hotel.
According to Emirates News Agency, in his opening remarks, Albarah El-Khani, Chief Operating Officer of M42 Integrated Healthcare Solutions, said the UAE links water directly to health, considering wastewater as a source of data and an early warning system. He explained that advanced laboratories and artificial intelligence are employed to detect pathogens and pollutants before they spread, transforming data into reliable systems that build public trust. This approach, he stressed, shifts water management from reaction to prevention.
He underlined that innovation is central to addressing challenges, pointing to the role of artificial intelligence and advanced analytics in predicting pollution and risks, monitoring systems in real time, and using wastewater data and genomics to safeguard communities. He added that standards and governance form the backbone of any effective and sustainable system.
El-Khani said the Water Quality Forum aims to bring together utilities, regulators, municipalities, academia, and the private sector to develop early warning systems, build credible scientific regulations, and strengthen capacities to ensure the continuity of knowledge and resilience across generations.
For his part, Ahmed Mohammed Al Rumaithi, Under-Secretary of the Abu Dhabi Department of Energy, said that the UAE’s water management strategy aims to ensure a sustainable future for coming generations. He emphasised that environmental protection and the preservation of natural resources are core priorities in the country’s sustainability journey.
He highlighted that these commitments are embodied in the Mohamed bin Zayed Water Initiative, which focuses on fostering innovation, investment, and collaboration to provide the best global solutions in the water sector, while raising awareness of water security among governments, scientific communities, and consumers. The initiative, he added, aims to build a sustainable and holistic culture of water management nationwide.
Al Rumaithi noted that the Department of Energy works to protect and sustain water resources in ways that support economic growth and environmental preservation. He underlined the strong interconnection between water and energy systems, stressing the need to leverage this linkage daily to enhance sustainability and efficiency in managing vital resources.
He pointed out that Abu Dhabi is home to the world’s largest reverse osmosis desalination plant, producing over 90,000 cubic metres of water per day. He noted that this achievement is only the beginning, highlighting that the shift from thermal desalination to reverse osmosis increased by 46 percent between 2020 and 2023.
He also referred to the Department’s recycled water use policy, launched in 2019, which by 2023 had raised the utilisation rate to 73 percent. Abu Dhabi, he added, has plans to address emergencies and unforeseen shocks through the creation of a strategic underground water reservoir to ensure reliable supply during crises.
Al Rumaithi explained that the Department’s water and electricity efficiency strategy, introduced in 2019, undergoes annual review and by 2025 had achieved nearly one-third of its 2030 targets. He credited this success to cooperation between the Department, operators, government entities, and the private sector, which enabled the saving of more than 306 million cubic metres of water from the network alone.