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Qatar faces two main challenges in terms of water - local climate and severe water scarcity that we cannot deal with easily, an expert said yesterday. |
Jamila El Mir, senior consultant of environment and sustainability at Arup, said at a seminar titled ‘Water: the Inconvenient Truth,’ which was held at Hamad Bin Khalifa University’s Student Centre yesterday.
El Mir said that people in Qatar were lucky that the government subsidises water and commended the government’s ability to absorb all the costs of providing sufficient water despite Qatar having one of the highest water footprint per capita in the world.
“All other challenges such as network losses, inefficient building design and operation, and excessive irrigation in the public realm are not atypical challenges all around the world. They can be dealt with and are being dealt with in Qatar, one step at a time,” she said.
El Mir called for public education and the importance of local solutions when tackling water scarcity.
“Increasing awareness about the importance of water savings at an individual level is key to the process, but will take time,” she said, adding: “Local authorities, meanwhile, can further increase the impact of their initiatives by making use of local expertise in private sector.”
El Mir is part of QGBC’s Water Interest Group which was started in 2011 by volunteer engineers, suppliers and senior level executives, who are passionate about water and its conservation.
Nikolaos Karavotas, chairperson of the group and sustainable development manager at QDVC, said: “QGBC’s Water Interest Group believes that Qatar’s water challenges cannot be solved easily by the government or the private sector alone. What is required is an integrated approach, clear policy and expertise.”
The seminar brought together over 50 experts to discuss solutions to Qatar’s water scarcity challenges.
QGBC is a member of Qatar Foundation for Education, Science and Community Development.
Meshal al-Shamari, director, QGBC, said: “The discussions revealed the interest in this pressing regional challenge and depth of thinking in Qatar around the issue. QGBC will bring together the outcome of these discussions into papers which will be presented to Qatar’s decision makers to assist with development of long-term solutions.”
During the event, QGBC facilitated five round table discussions with each focusing on a different response to addressing water scarcity in Qatar. Topics included policy, market conditions, education and public awareness, design and construction practices, and availability of information.
