Electronic taps to help mosques save water

abu dhabi — Worshippers in the Capital have welcomed the new initiative for installing electronic ablution taps at mosques, stressing that they will help save wastage of water.

The General Authority for Islamic Affairs and Endowments Authority (GAIAE) said earlier this week that it had installed specialised electronic devices at mosques across the UAE, in cooperation with the Foundation for the Future, to reduce water consumption by 70 per cent. The initiative is part of the Year of Giving campaign.

The electronic faucets have been supplied and installed by the foundation with a guarantee for 10 years. They have replaced the ablution water taps in the mosques in order to reduce water usage during the pre-prayer ablution process, known as wudhu.

“This is really a good initiative. The new devices will help save a lot of water during the ablution process,” said Mohammed Salem, a Sudanese resident of the Mushrif area in Abu Dhabi.

“A lot of water was being wasted with the old taps that flow out huge amount of water during ablution. Some worshippers have been even leaving the taps open after getting ablution.”

Ali Hamdan, a Syrian resident of Al Bateen, said introducing the new taps for ablution would reduce the wastage of water. “Ablution taps at many mosques have been wasting water,” he said.

“But with the idea of replacing the taps with electronic ones would help worshippers avoid wastage of water as Islam discourages it.”

“I like the new initiative. It supports the message of the Prophet Muhammad (Peace Be Upon Him), who said ‘do not waste water, even if you perform your wudhu on the banks of a river’,” said Emirati Ahmed Khalid, a resident of Mohammed Bin Zayed City.

Dr Mohammed Mattar Al Kaabi, chairman of the GAIAE, said that the authority would work with the foundation, as one of the partners supporting its projects and initiatives.

Authorities said that a practical experiment was carried out in one of the mosques, with a capacity of 500 worshipers. The 42 electronic taps installed there showed that a single tap saved more than 70 per cent of the water consumption, he added.