Sunny Dubai, that Islamic desert paradise in the heart of Arabia, the UAE. White sandy beaches and the tranquil waters of the Persian Gulf, what more could you want?

Where does all the poop go in Dubai? Millions of people, but no sewers, just holding tanks and “poop” trucks. Dubai’s rapid growth means that it is stretching its limited sewage treatment infrastructure to its limits. Currently, human waste from Dubai’s 1.3 million inhabitants is collected daily from thousands of septic tanks across the city and driven by tankers to the city’s only sewage treatment plant at Al-Awir.

Because of the long queues and delays, some tanker drivers resort to illegally dumping the effluent into storm drains or behind dunes in the desert. The result of sewage dumped into storm drains is that it flows directly into sea of the Persian Gulf, near to the city’s prime swimming beaches. Doct