New deep-tunnel sewerage system in Dubai by 2025

Dubai is planning a brand spanking new deep-tunnel sewerage system, which should be completed by 2025.

The project will cost an estimated AED30 billion, and is part of the emirate’s efforts to accommodate future growth and meet long-term needs for used water collection, treatment, reclamation and disposal.

The new sytem is expected to save millions of dirhams worth of maintenance costs and contribute to providing millions of cubic metres of irrigation water to the benefit of future mega projects in the emirate.

The system will involve the construction of two tunnels deep beneath the city, supported by 140km of link sewers and key pumping stations. One will start in Bur Dubai and transfer sewage to the Jebel Ali treatment plant, and the other will start in Deira, and run through to the Al Warsan treatment plant.

The tunnel system will also replace more than 121 existing sewage pumping stations, which means tankers (aka “poop trucks”) will no longer need to transfer waste across the city.

Dubai is an extremely fast-growing city, and it’s reassuring to know that our waste infrastructure will be able to keep up with the, erm, demand over the next century. The system will be similar to that of other megacities around the world, like Singapore.