UAE Plans To Drag An ICEBERG From Antarctica To Provide Drinking Water - Foreign Affairs - Nairaland
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| UAE Plans To Drag An ICEBERG From Antarctica To Provide Drinking Water by cristianisraeli: 9:13am On May 08, 2017 |
UAE plans to drag an ICEBERG from Antarctica to provide drinking water for millions The UAE is at serious risk of droughts over the next 25 years due to its climate One iceberg could provide enough for one million people over five years An eco-firm plans to tow them around 5,500 miles (8,800 km) to harvest water Encouraging life to bloom in the middle of a desert is no easy task. But one company in the United Arab Emirates has come up with a bizarre plan to provide drinking water for the state's citizens. The firm intends to haul icebergs from Antarctica to the gulf coast in order to harvest its billions of gallons of fresh water. he National Advisor Bureau, headquartered in Masdar City, Abu-Dhabi, plans to source the massive blocks of ice from Heard Island, around 600 miles (1000 kilometres) off the coast of mainland Antarctica. It will then transport them around 5,500 miles (8,800 km) to Fujairah, one of the seven emirates which make up the UAE. One iceberg could provide enough for one million people over five years, according to the company. And the scheme could begin as early as the start of 2018. The firm's director says they have already travelled the transportation route and used simulators to check the feasibility of the scheme, according to reports in Gulf News. Speaking to the site about what he is calling the UAE Iceberg Project, Abdullah Mohammad Sulaiman Al Shehi said: 'Our simulator predicts that it will take up to one year [to tow an iceberg to UAE]. We have formulated the technical and financial plan. Towing is the best method. We will start the project in beginning of 2018. 'We want it mainly for the water. It could also be good for tourism and the weather.' The UAE is one of the most arid countries and one of the top 10 most water-scarce in the world, due to its extremely arid climate, which receives less than four inches (100 mm) of rainfall per year. Despite that, it consumes more water than double the global national average putting the country at severe risk of droughts over the next 25 years. An average iceberg contains more than 20 billion gallons of water, according to the Abu Dhabi-based company. They take a long time to melt as 80 per cent of their mass is underwater, while the white ice above reflects sunlight and deflects its heat. Upon arrival at a specially constructed processing facility, workers will 'mine' the icebergs for their water supplies. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-4476272/UAE-plans-drag-ICEBERG-Antarctic.html An Abu-Dhabi based firm plans to tow icebergs from Antarctica to the United Arab Emirates to harvest their fresh drinking water (artist's impression pictured). One iceberg could provide enough for one million people over five years An average iceberg contains more than 20 billion gallons of water. Upon arrival at a specially constructed processing facility (artist's impression pictured), workers will 'mine' the icebergs for their water supplies The project may prove a boost for tourism if it proves a success, with people travelling to see the unusual sight of an iceberg off the coast of the Arabian Gulf The firm will source the massive blocks of ice from Heard Island, around 600 miles (1000 kilometres) off the coast of mainland Antarctica. It will then transport them around 5,500 miles (8,800 km) to Fujairah, one of the seven emirates which make up the UAE 1 Like 1 Share
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| Re: UAE Plans To Drag An ICEBERG From Antarctica To Provide Drinking Water by Officialkplus(m): 9:17am On May 08, 2017 |
Is that even possible..  Lots of labour are gonna be needed.. Its now UAE would open its boarders to black immigrants |
| Re: UAE Plans To Drag An ICEBERG From Antarctica To Provide Drinking Water by cristianisraeli: 9:19am On May 08, 2017 |
How bad is the water shortage problem? The pace of development in UAE is such that groundwater supplies are predicted to run dry in the next 15 years. A typical Emirati uses 500 litres of water per day, about 80% more than the global average. Dozens of desalination plants provide nearly all of the country’s drinking water, but the plants are expensive and require huge amounts of electricity to strip the salt from seawater. Globally, the UN warns that within two decades, 600 million children will live in regions enduring extreme water scarcity. Have icebergs been towed from Antarctica before? No one has towed icebergs from Antarctica to provide water to parched nations, but the idea is far from new. In the early 19th century, proposals to tow icebergs into the Southern Ocean to balance out the temperature of the Earth were already considered old hat. But enthusiasm for the challenge persisted. In 1863, one US entrepreneur proposed towing icebergs to India, where they would sell for six cents per pound. Another planned to do away with tugboats altogether, and effectively turn the icebergs into ships themselves. Is it possible to tow an iceberg? The Canadian oil and gas industry regularly tows icebergs away from offshore platforms when there is a risk of collision. But by Antarctic standards, these icebergs tend to be smaller ones, and they are not towed that far. On average, these icebergs are 60-80 metres wide at the waterline, weighing around 100,000 tonnes, said Tony King, director of ice engineering at C-Core, a Canadian engineering firm that makes equipment for the job. Larger icebergs weighing up to 1m tonnes have reportedly been towed with a rope slung between two vessels. Typically, icebergs are towed for a few dozen kilometres to get them out the way of oil and gas platforms sitting a few hundred kilometres offshore. Could an iceberg be towed to UAE? According to Grant Bigg, professor of Earth systems at Sheffield University and author of the 2015 book Icebergs, there is a long list of technical hurdles that must be overcome. Synthetic fibre ropes, which are stronger than steel, can be slung around icebergs at the waterline, but when tugging begins the rope can slip off or make the iceberg roll over. Another reason the towing must be done slowly and carefully is that dragging an iceberg through the ocean can make it break apart. The industry has come up with nets for capturing unstable icebergs, but they don’t work in every case. “There are two major problems,” said Bigg. “One is getting a vessel that’s strong enough to tow the size of iceberg you need. The second is breakup and melting. It would probably be feasible to get an iceberg a kilometre or two wide up to the Arabian sea, but you’d lose an awful lot of mass on the way. It’s quite likely it would fracture before you got there.” And then there is the cost. A single iceberg-towing vessel can cost around $75,000 a day, and to tow a massive iceberg might need several ships for months at a time. “It comes down to the question of what is feasible and what is practical,” said King. “Is it more practical to take a tanker to Antarctica and capture some fresh water melting off a glacier?” In Canada, shops already sell bottled water made from chunks of frozen water that are chipped off icebergs. King has a chunk in his freezer. “It makes for nice ice,” he said. “It makes a nice crackly sound in a glass of water.” In principle, were an iceberg to be anchored off the coast of UAE, the freshwater that melts off would float on top of the salty seawater, and could then be drawn off to use. But the release of so much cold, fresh water into the sea, along with damage caused to the seabed from grounding the iceberg, could be devastating to the local marine ecosystem. 1 Like |
| Re: UAE Plans To Drag An ICEBERG From Antarctica To Provide Drinking Water by egorov(m): 9:23am On May 08, 2017 |
Once they start, I'll be glad if they can show it live. It's gonna be an awesome view |
| Re: UAE Plans To Drag An ICEBERG From Antarctica To Provide Drinking Water by whitebeard(m): 9:40am On May 08, 2017 |
I am not saying it is not possible..., the idea is just funny
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| Re: UAE Plans To Drag An ICEBERG From Antarctica To Provide Drinking Water by emmanuelpopson(m): 10:23am On May 08, 2017 |
this life is full of irony..while there are two large rivers in this country,untapped but water supply and usage is done individually and a desert land is looking for water... NAIJA sucks.. |
| Re: UAE Plans To Drag An ICEBERG From Antarctica To Provide Drinking Water by seunny4lif(m): 11:03am On May 08, 2017 |
Blood of Jona Nigeria get enough water to go around We have all the natural resources but we have no plan in this nation. Our leaders are visionless |
| Re: UAE Plans To Drag An ICEBERG From Antarctica To Provide Drinking Water by Nobody: 12:15pm On May 10, 2017 |
All I see is a government willing to go the extra mile and do the unthinkable to make sure the people it presides over don't suffer. Very much unlike what we have in this part of the world and that is why we are faraway from the top. In Africa,they would rather wait for the drought to happen first and then start running from one international aid agency to the other,asking for assistance. One question though what happens after the 5 years when the water must have run out? 1 Like 1 Share |
| Re: UAE Plans To Drag An ICEBERG From Antarctica To Provide Drinking Water by cristianisraeli: 1:48pm On May 10, 2017 |
if only the arab country would swallow their pride and ask israel to share their water tech with them http://www.timesofisrael.com/how-israel-became-a-water-superpower/ |
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