DUBAI — Dubai’s skyline is the most sparkling in the Middle East. But down on the ground, the environmental problems of a quickly erected city built on sand look a lot less alluring.

“Growth has been so intense and enormous, but people forgot about the environment,” said Jean-François Seznec, a Middle East expert and professor at Georgetown University in Washington. “The attitude was, business comes first. Now, they are seeing increased problems.”

Rapid growth has produced  problems as well, including sewage treatment operations that have struggled to keep up with development.

Until last August, Dubai’s single waste treatment plant dealt with 480,000 cubic meters, or 17 million cubic feet, of sewage daily, nearly twice the 260,000-cubic-meter capacity it could properly handle, said Mohammed Abdulaziz Najem, the plant’s director.

Some drivers of the 4,000 tankers that carried raw waste daily from Dubai to the treatment plant would simply dump their load down drains that flowed to the fashionable Jumeirah suburb which would give out an unpleasant smell which could drive tourists and residents out of the area , he said.

If sewage is not treated properly it could boost the spread of diseases such a Cholera and Diarrhea.

Therefore a proper sewage system is required to cope with the increasing population and to reduce damage to the environment.