page_title: Peak water
section_title: United Arab Emirates
hierarchical_section_title: Peak water / Water shortfall by country / United Arab Emirates
caption_attribution_description: English: Desalination plant in RAK (Ras Al Khaimah, United Arab Emirates)
context_page_description: Peak water is a concept that underlines the growing constraints on the availability, quality, and use of freshwater resources.
  Peak water was defined in a 2010 peer-reviewed article in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences by Peter Gleick and Meena Palaniappan. They distinguish between peak renewable, peak non-renewable, and peak ecological water in order to demonstrate the fact that although there is a vast amount of water on the planet, sustainably managed water is becoming scarce.
  Lester R. Brown, president of the Earth Policy Institute, wrote in 2013 that although there was extensive literature on peak oil, it was peak water that is "the real threat to our future". An assessment was published in August 2011 in the Stockholm International Water Institute's journal. Much of the world's water in underground aquifers and in lakes can be depleted and thus resembles a finite resource. The phrase peak water sparks debates similar to those about peak oil. In 2010, New York Times chose "peak water" as one of its 33 "Words of the Year".
  There are concerns about impending peak water in several areas around the world:
context_section_description: United Arab Emirates has a rapidly growing economy and very little water to support it. UAE requires more water than is naturally available. They have reached peak water. To solve this, UAE has a desalination plant near Ruwais and ships its water via pipeline to Abu Dhabi.
caption: Desalination plant in Ras al-Khaimah, UAE
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