DEWA’s Central Lab conducts thousands of water quality tests in 2022

Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA)’s Central Laboratory has conducted thousands of tests on the quality of drinking water in 2022. The tests aimed to verify the availability of high-quality drinking water that adheres to the highest global standards for consumers in Dubai at all times. The laboratory also conducted a large number of environmental and petrochemical tests, as well as routine and non-routine tests to ensure the compliance of drinking water to the highest physical, chemical, and biological standards.

To keep pace with the increasing needs of DEWA and consumers in terms of quantity and quality, the laboratory attracts the best talents and utilises the latest technologies, resulting in developing faster and more accurate equipment with higher capacities. In the past seven years, it recorded an increase of over 200% in the number of tests.

“DEWA enhances the security and sustainability of water resources in Dubai. This supports the vision of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, the Dubai Integrated Water Resource Management Strategy 2030, and the UAE Water Security Strategy 2036. DEWA continues to support the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 2030, including Goal 6: Clean Water and Sanitation. DEWA’s total production capacity has reached 490 Million Imperial Gallons per Day (MIGD) of desalinated water, including 63 MIGD using Reverse Osmosis (RO). DEWA uses the latest and most efficient, and reliable technologies to support its water network to ensure sustainable water supply. DEWA ensures water quality through continuous checks across all stages of the desalination process. This ensures drinking water according to the highest international safety and quality standards, including that of the World Health Organization, related to the production, transmission, and distribution of drinking water. In line with DEWA’s digital transformation strategy, we continuously develop and improve our talents and capabilities in drones and Artificial Intelligence to conduct our main tasks, such as water production, desalination, and quality checks,” said HE Saeed Mohammed Al Tayer, MD &CEO of DEWA.

DEWA’s Central Laboratory attaches great importance to drinking water as one of DEWA’s main products. The laboratory conducts all necessary checks, from production plants to various transmission and distribution networks, until the water reaches the consumers. It also tests the different raw materials used in the energy and water production processes, which are fuels such as natural gas, raw chemicals, and equipment oils, as well as metal tests related to equipment efficiency. In addition, the laboratory performs various environmental checks to control and reduce the impact of production activities on the surrounding environment.

DEWA’s Central Laboratory has been accredited for ISO/IEC 17025:2017 by the Emirates International Accreditation Centre (EIAC). The accreditation includes the requirements for the competence of testing and calibration laboratories, and is adopted by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC). The laboratory includes advanced, highly accurate global equipment and advanced technologies. These include Ion Exchange Chromatography; gas chromatography-mass spectrometry instruments; Liquid Chromatography-Tandem Mass Spectrometry (LC-MS/MS); X-ray measuring equipment; Quantitative Polymerase Chain Reaction (qPCR); Radiation Equipment (Liquid Scintillation Counter LSC), and more. In total, the laboratory includes over 20 advanced devices. Water quality online monitoring devices are also installed to ensure essential standards in production stations and transmission and distribution lines. These devices promptly identify any quality standards imbalance to help take the necessary corrective action.