A meeting was held on Wednesday, 2 April, 2014, at the Government of Dubai Legal Affairs Department (“LAD”) to discuss a draft Executive Council Resolution issuing the implementing bylaw of Law No. (15) of 2008 Concerning the Protection of Groundwater in the Emirate of Dubai.
The meeting was attended by representatives from the Dubai Municipality (“DM”), the Department of Finance, the General Secretariat of the Executive Council (“GSEC”), the Dubai Police General Headquarters, the Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (“DEWA”), as well as a number of legal counsel from LAD.
The attendees discussed all provisions of the draft resolution, focusing on the technical comments raised by DEWA and DM being the two entities directly concerned with the subject of groundwater.
The proposed bylaw is aimed at enforcing the detailed provisions of the abovementioned Law No. (15) of 2008. One of the key provisions covered by the draft bylaw emphasises the fact that the ownership of the groundwater within the Emirate of Dubai belongs to the Emirate of Dubai, and that groundwater may only be extracted or exploited by obtaining a licence from DM and approval from DEWA. The draft bylaw also defines the duties and powers of the government entities responsible for the implementation of the legislation. Such powers and duties include exploring for groundwater in Dubai, classifying groundwater basins based on their hydrological properties, determining areas where it is prohibited to drill wells, amounts of groundwater to be extracted, environmental and engineering standards for exploiting groundwater, uses of groundwater and means of rationalising its consumption. Moreover, the draft bylaw provides for the criteria and requirements for licensing groundwater well drilling, and groundwater extraction and exploitation for agricultural, industrial and other purposes. The draft bylaw provides for the obligations of the parties to which the it will apply, particularly, groundwater well drilling contractors and well owners. Procedures are also prescribed in the draft law for well drilling and the technical conditions and requirements of the equipment used for drilling wells or extracting groundwater together with a list of the violations and relevant penalties. The objectives of Law No. 15 of 2008 and its yet-to-be-issued bylaw are to protect the groundwater of the Emirate of Dubai from pollution, depletion, and salinisation in order to save it as a strategic reserve for emergency use.
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