At Sustainable Water Solutions Company (SWS), we aim to facilitate the provision of reliable and accurate information to various institutions and relevant entities, to meet the requirement of other regulators, and to raise awareness of the regulatory requirements. When SWS came into existence, the Regulation & Supervision Bureau (RSB) regulated the activities of the water, wastewater, and electricity sectors in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi.
The Department of Energy (DOE) is the successor entity to the Regulation and Supervision Bureau (RSB) under Law No.11 of 2018. The DoE’s responsibility is defined as the Energy Sector Regulator which outlines the regulatory framework and policies.
The DOE grants a License to the SWS to carry out their activities in the authorized areas. The license is granted in the exercise of the powers conferred on the DOE by Article (4) of Law No (11), Article (82) of Law No (2), and Article (6) of Law No (17). A License to operate was issued by the Department of Energy (RSB) in 2005.
Since then, several government entities were restructured to form a new infrastructure Regulator, the DOE under Law No 11/ 2018. While SWS is currently engaged in the licensed sewerage activities within the Authorized Area, certain other areas (primarily some of the ongoing real-estate developments) are being served through different licensing arrangements between the relevant entities and the Department of Energy.
The License sets out the conditions that SWS must adhere to ensure the protection of the environment, secure public health, and serve the interests of customers.
Furthermore, SWS must meet the requirements of other regulators, such as the Environment Agency of Abu Dhabi (EAD) and other government agencies.
At TAQA WS, our operations align with the Abu Dhabi Department of Energy’s operational standards and conditions. We continue to submit all the necessary regulatory submissions promptly, as per their guidelines. We have also achieved successful results from our internal audits that were conducted for our Regulatory Office.
Our regulator, the Department of Energy, has introduced an Energy Efficiency policy, requiring us to submit annual reports on our energy management initiatives and performance. They also have introduced a target of a 22 percent reduction in electricity consumption by 2030. Although this target is not yet mandatory for us, we are striving to align with it.
TAQA WS must comply with local and national environmental regulations. We comply with the ISO 14001:2015 certification and have also developed and implemented an Environmental Management System (EMS). Our EMS details a comprehensive environmental impact assessment including stages for identifying, controlling, minimizing, and eliminating pollution.
We adhere to the Department of Energy Recycled Water and Bio-Solids Regulations 2021 Edition. The regulations define the acceptable limits for treated wastewater and biosolids parameters and the acceptable methods for collection, measuring, and monitoring.
