Dubai, UAE: Dake Rechsand, a Dubai-based company offering sustainable solutions in water conservation and desert farming, has showcased solutions that could help shape the future of UAE – in industries ranging from agriculture to hospitality.
“The per capita water use in the UAE is already three times higher than the global average,” said Chandra Dake, CEO and Founder of Dake Rechsand. “The hospitality industry accounts for disproportionately high water usage. Since much of the UAE’s water supply is produced through desalination, involving unsustainable use of fossil fuels, it has embodied carbon at every stage, from procurement to transportation, to end use,” he added.
Dake Rechsand’s innovative and transformative solutions are proactively contributing to the creation of a more sustainable and abundant world. The company’s breakthrough breathable sand technology utilizes low-value desert aeolian sand to create a constantly evolving portfolio of high-value products.
The solutions offered by Dake Rechsand include applications to convert desert sand into arable land, desert farming, water harvesting, sand casting, sand oil, and more.
With a global presence that currently extends to the USA, the UAE, India, China, and South Africa, the company is transforming food and water security in water-stressed regions. It is currently engaged in an ambitious plan to enable farming and greenery for at least 100,000 acres across UAE or for half a million trees by year end, 2021.
The Middle East has had a limited choice of water sources. Scarce groundwater reserves, with high salinity, and limited re-use, have compounded local water security issues; and the arid climate makes landscaping irrigation-intensive.
Hotels
However, this can change, according to Dake Rechsand. Taking the 3Rs approach: “Reduce, Recycle, and Reuse,” hotels in the Middle East can take a smart and proactive approach to sustainability, while enhancing the property, and the guest experience they offer.
Greywater reuse is an increasingly popular strategy being adopted by hospitality and residential properties around the world. Several approaches, including using physical and chemical filtration, and/or constructed wetland areas, are being implemented, to make bath and laundry water suitable for reuse in keeping the property’s landscaping lush and green.
Dake Rechsand’s “breathable sand” technology offers a simple, decentralized, water harvesting and storage solution, which also empowers water-wise landscaping. This can help hoteliers drastically reduce the volume of water used for landscaping, while also allowing them to develop their own water reserves, to become partly or fully self-sustainable.
A one-time application of Dake Rechsand’s breathable sand in landscaping enables optimal growth of plants, with nearly 80% less water use. This is possible because of breathable sand’s air permeability and water retention properties.
“Water scarcity presents a major hindrance to sustainability in the UAE. So, it’s strategically crucial for the hospitality industry to evolve, in how it procures water, and uses it. Bearing that in mind, we have curated our solutions to not only address embodied carbon footprint, but also induce circularity, reusability, and cost-effectiveness, in the hospitality industry’s water infrastructure,” Chandra said.
