The surge of Dubai's underground rivers!

Driving down Dubai's iconic Sheikh Zayed Road, one can admire the high-rise buildings, luxurious cars and the desert scenery in the near distance.  Most visitors may not have noticed that this majestic street is lined with impeccably green "Hyde Park" lawns.  And little do they know that hidden beneath this greenery there could be underwater rivers, flushed daily by desalinated water.

In a city where it rains on average 10 days a year and where the the temperature peaks up to 50c in the summer months, one would be shocked to learn that most streets are lined grass and non-native flowers and plants. If we discount the dozen or so 18-hole golf courses in and around the city, the following will raise a few eyebrows:  

Experts have noticed a disturbing surge in large underwater pockets of water. In certain areas this is causing underground rivers to appear where there were previously no natural underwater wells. After speaking to a specialised dewatering company based in Dubai, they also noticed this trend is on the up and is starting to cause a nuisance for new constructions projects as well as impacting the soil around existing constructed areas. This has led to an increase in dewatering, which is a method used to dig holes and extract excessive water from the soil in order to reinforce the soil prior to construction. 

The blame can be put on the city's rise from a sleepy modest dusty town 25 years ago, to a city of over 1 million today. Local government and property developers have unnecessarily added kilometres of lawns, shrubbery and flower beds (in certain cases to the image of the local ruler). One could quickly mistake Dubai for a North American leafy suburb town or a Swiss Alpine alpine village surrounded by greenery and beautified streets. 

As it practically never rains, the water used for the lawns and plants is sourced from desalinated water which is converted into potable water in one of the countries 50 desalination plants. Making this water drinkable, requires a huge amount of energy which the country so far is able to produce due to it's abundant oil and gas reserves but the tide is turning.  As electricity usage and water consumption which is estimated at 420 litres per person/day (4x as much as in Europe) is dramatically rising, the country is forced to go down the nuclear route and will build it's first nuclear power plant in 2017. 

The problem with all the excessive watering of green areas is that the local soil is not used to this much water and doesn't absorb it as it's mostly sand and rock which has led to the underground water pockets and rivers being created. This water isn't captured and re-used so the cycle repeats itself as sprinklers are turned on several times a day to add more desalinated water to the grass and soil. 

There are signs for hope though. The government recently made calls for indigenous grass to the region to be planted instead of 'golf course' grass. There are also campaigns in the press and in schools to educate on reducing water usage. But the biggest challenge, would be for the city and it's property developments to go back to a traditional desert-like natural environment.