Refill stations inside Dubai Mall and City Centre Deira only help a shopper who knows where to find them. The Dubai Can initiative launched in February 2022 and has grown into a citywide network of free water points, but mall directories rarely mark them clearly. This guide lists the real taps, floors and brands behind them, from the Adidas store in Dubai Mall to the air-to-water units at Metro-linked malls, so a bottle refill stops being a scavenger hunt.
What the Dubai Can network means for shoppers
Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai and Chairman of The Executive Council of Dubai, launched ‘Dubai Can’ on February 15, 2022. More than 500 destinations, hotels, attractions and malls across the city collaborated to support the movement from its early weeks. The network has since expanded well beyond its first phase.
The initiative’s key feature is a network of over 50 free water refill stations scattered throughout Dubai, conveniently located in popular spots like beaches, parks, malls, and tourist attractions. Since its initiation in February 2022, it has cut the consumption of almost 18 million 500ml single-use plastic water bottles. A second wave of growth followed: fifty more water filling stations were installed in touristic destinations, beaches, shopping malls and public parks, with over 1,000 water stations also added in government entities, offices, hotels and universities.
Finding refill stations inside Dubai’s biggest malls
Several enclosed malls carry a station a shopper can walk straight to. Inside Dubai Mall, a dedicated point sits inside the MakerLab on the ground floor, opposite the ice rink and near the cinema parking area, installed through a partnership between the Adidas flagship store and the Refill UAE campaign. Shoppers can access the drinking fountain to refill their reusable bottles with filtered tap water free of charge, and it can be found inside the MakerLab, on the ground floor of Dubai Mall opposite the ice rink and near Cinema Parking.
Other named mall locations appear directly on the Dubai Can list. Deira City Center carries three separate stations, while Mall of the Emirates Metro Station holds two at the entrance most shoppers already pass through. Dubai Marina Mall and Dragon Mart 2 each appear on the same network, and Souk Madinat Jumeirah carries one as well. At Dubai Festival City, the station sits at Festival Tower, away from the main atrium.
Mall refill points existed before the citywide push, too. Ibn Battuta Mall offered refill water stations even before the Dubai Can campaign began, which explains why some older malls already have a tap a newer visitor might miss.
How mall water compares with bottled brands
The water itself follows a simple, repeated process. The majority of drinking water in Dubai is desalinated seawater from the Arabian Gulf, which goes through desalination that removes impurities before it reaches taps. At the refill point, an added filter runs the water through a second stage before it reaches the bottle.
Several Majid Al Futtaim malls and Metro links go a step further with condensation technology. The system pulls moisture from the air itself rather than from a pipe. According to Ibrahim Al Zu’bi, Chief Sustainability Officer at Majid Al Futtaim, the stations produce more than 5,000 litres of water from air daily, enough for more than 2,500 people at roughly two litres each. Dubai Can stations also keep the water noticeably cooler than room temperature: the drinking water is kept cool at a temperature of 10°C, offering a refreshing and safe alternative to bottled water.
Using the map, the app and mall etiquette
A shopper does not need to memorise a list. The refill stations across Dubai can be located on a map available on www.dubaican.com, which updates as new taps join the network. Bring a bottle with a narrow neck under 7 centimetres wide: most mall units are built for standard sports bottles, not wide-mouth flasks or hydration packs.
Peak hours matter more at enclosed malls than at outdoor stations. Weekday mornings before 11am see almost no queue at City Centre Deira or Dubai Marina Mall, while weekend afternoons near the food court can mean a short wait. During Ramadan and the summer months, when mall footfall rises and the heat outside pushes more visitors indoors, arriving early avoids the longest lines at the busiest units.
What to do first, and what can wait
Start with the mall closest to a regular routine. A commuter who passes Mall of the Emirates Metro Station daily gains more from memorising that location than from checking a citywide map once a month. Save the dubaican.com map for trips to unfamiliar malls or new neighbourhoods, since the list changes as stations are added.
Buying a bottle built for these taps can wait until a first refill confirms the habit sticks. The stations themselves are already free, already cooled to 10°C, and already placed in the mall a reader visits most weeks.
