The Impact of Privatisation on Sustainability of Water in the United Arab Emirates - Essay Example

Thus keeping a sustainable water supply in place is essential for the future of the country. Interviews have a number of strengths and weaknesses associated with them. Among the strengths are the ability to gauge both the knowledge and attitudes of the respondents, and also how the two influence one another. The weakness is that these are purely qualitative in nature, and so cannot produce quantitative, empirical evidence as to the state of the water supply and sustainability in the UAE. This study involved 29 interviews divided evenly between Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Fujairah: the three major cities in the UAE.

As will be illustrated, there were contrasts both intra- and inter- city in the attitudes towards and knowledge of sustainable water supplies. It is these attitudes that will be so important in the decades to come as creating a sustainable water supply is as much a matter for the general population as it is for the government of a country. Sustainability can only occur with the active cooperation of the population, without this it is merely a pleasant but empty ideal with no practical basis. It is interesting to note the variety of responses to both the definition of “sustainability” and how the respondents expanded on “what is important with regards to sustainability?

” The definitions range from the simple to the complex to the comprehensive. Thus AUH1 states simply, “Sustainability for water means you use only the renewable resources that you cannot affect or deteriorate your water resources which is not here applicable in Abu Dhabi Emirate because the demand is more than water production and we rely on ground water which is not renewable.” Apart from the difference in style of reply, it is obvious that AUH1 places the definition of sustainability clearly (and solely) within the human context of whether “everyone” has a secure and safe