Filling a Pool in Dubai

We rate this tip S tier: tanker trucks sell the same water at more than twice the price, and the only thing they buy you is two or three days. George Vanous's notes record paying AED 6,400 (about $1,743) for eight trucks to fill one villa pool with 170 cubic meters. At DEWA's residential water tariff as published on Nov 10, 2026, with the fuel surcharge, VAT and sewerage added, the same fill comes to about AED 2,645 ($720). His own estimate of the DEWA cost, AED 1,500, was too low, and the tip survives the correction easily.

We think the gap narrows a little in the new year: the sewerage fee is scheduled to rise from 2 fils to 2.8 fils a gallon in January 2027, which adds about AED 299 to this fill, while DEWA's top water slab stays at AED 10.12 a cubic meter. Confidence: Likely. Check by: Mar 2027.

What he paid, and what he worked out

George's notes say he paid AED 6,400 to fill the pool at one of his villas, using "eight 5,000 gallon water tanker trucks at AED 800 each for 45,000 gallons of water (170 cubic meters) where some trucks had 6,000 gallons". The note is undated and sits among entries from 2025. That works out to AED 37.65 for each cubic meter delivered.

Against that he set the tap: "DEWA charges AED 8.8 / m3 so 170 * 8.8 = AED 1,500. Same water, just AED 4,900 cheaper."

The note sits above an earlier version of itself that he kept and labeled "Wrong:". In that first attempt he had the same AED 1,500 for DEWA and the same AED 800 a truck, and still concluded the trucks were cheaper. The arithmetic never supported that, and he said so by correcting it in place rather than deleting it.

The sum again, at today's tariff

AED 8.80 is a real DEWA rate, but it is only the middle of three slabs, and a pool fill runs far past it. The residential water slabs on DEWA's Slab Tariff page are AED 7.70 a cubic meter for the first 27 cubic meters in a month, AED 8.80 from 27 to 54, and AED 10.12 above 54. On top come a fuel surcharge (AED 1.10 a cubic meter for November 2026; DEWA resets it with fuel prices) and 5% VAT.

Then there is a line he left out altogether. A home connected to the municipal sewer pays Dubai Municipality's sewerage fee on every gallon of water the meter records, including water that goes into a pool and never reaches a drain. The National reported on Nov 5, 2024 that the fee would be 2 fils a gallon in 2026. DEWA does not charge VAT on it.

For 170 cubic meters taken in one billing month, with nothing else on the meter:

A household's ordinary use usually fills the two cheaper slabs before the pool does. In that case all 170 cubic meters are billed at AED 10.12, and the fill costs AED 2,750.66: AED 1,720.40 of water, AED 187.00 of surcharge, AED 95.37 of VAT and the same AED 747.89 of sewerage. That is AED 16.18 a cubic meter all in.

So the saving on his fill is about AED 3,650 to AED 3,750 ($994 to $1,021), not the AED 4,900 in the note. A home that is not on the municipal sewer would not pay the sewerage line, and its DEWA fill would be about AED 1,900 to AED 2,000.

Which gallon?

His 45,000 gallons equal 170 cubic meters only if they are US gallons (3.785 liters). If the trucks were measured in imperial gallons (4.546 liters) instead, they delivered about 205 cubic meters. The DEWA cost of 205 cubic meters is about AED 3,200 by the first method above, still half the trucks' price. We converted the sewerage fee with imperial gallons (219.97 to the cubic meter); the report of the fee does not say which gallon it means, and US gallons would make that line larger, about AED 898.

Before ordering either way, measure the pool: length times width times average depth, in meters, gives cubic meters.

What the trucks are for

Speed. His notes put a tap fill at four days and the trucks at one or two. Four days for 170 cubic meters is about 30 liters a minute, around the clock, which is what one garden hose on a villa supply can plausibly deliver; we did not time one. If nobody is in a hurry, the hose wins.

Two practical points about the slow way. The whole fill lands on one or two DEWA bills, so expect a water line several times its usual size that month. And sewerage, like the charge covered on DEWA Housing Fee, belongs to Dubai Municipality: DEWA collects it and cannot waive it.

Depth, while the pool is empty

George also kept depths, which decide the volume and therefore the bill. The shared pool at his apartment building measured 140 cm at the shallow end and 160 cm at the deep end. Villa pools, he noted, are "often more shallow", around 110 cm and 150 cm. For the pool he was building he wanted 145 cm and 185 cm, with the comment "deeper is better". Every extra 10 cm over a 10 by 5 meter pool is 5 more cubic meters, about AED 81 from the tap at the all-in top rate.

What we verified and what we did not

DEWA's slab rates, the November 2026 fuel surcharge and the VAT rule were read on dewa.gov.ae on Nov 10, 2026 and are exact. The 2 fils sewerage rate for 2026 comes from The National's Nov 5, 2024 report of Dubai Municipality's announcement; we did not find the rate on a Dubai Municipality page or see it on a 2026 bill. Tanker prices have no official list: AED 800 a truck is what George paid, on his date, and we could not confirm what a truck costs today. The four-day fill time is his estimate.

Sources

• Slab Tariff, Dubai Electricity and Water Authority, read Nov 10, 2026
• VAT and E-invoicing information, Dubai Electricity and Water Authority, read Nov 10, 2026
• Dubai sewerage bills to rise by 50% in January and more than double by 2027, The National, Nov 5, 2024
• George Vanous's notes, undated (about 2025)