Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA) will select a consultant to develop a plan on how it may use its surplus desal capacity in an aquifer storage and recovery (ASR) program. Lower growth predictions resulting from the global financial crisis have led to lower water demand. Last year, Dubai cancelled plans to build a major new desal plant at Hassyan, and announced that there would be no further desal capacity added before 2018. In late 2010, the neighboring emirate of Abu Dhabi begin work on a new ASR project to store up to 16.4 million m3 (4.3 billion gallons) of desalinated seawater in underground aquifers that could be withdrawn in the event of a national emergency at a rate of 40 MIGD (48 MGD) continuously for three months.
