The QR17bn project, announced on Saturday by the Qatar General Electricity and Water Corporation (Kahramaa) to raise Qatar’s water storage capacity to 2,400mn gallons by 2026 with the construction of 24 mega reservoirs in five different parts of the country, is a timely initiative.
The massive project has been set in motion with the awarding of the contracts. The new reservoirs are coming up in Umm Baraka, Umm Salal, Rawdat al-Rashid, Abu Nakhla and Al-Thumama. The first phase includes laying of nearly 650km of pipelines besides the construction of the reservoirs, each of which will be spread over an area of 1sq km.
Considered to be the largest expansion work ever taken place in the country’s water sector, the new projects form part of Kahramaa’s strategy to ensure uninterrupted supply of water to the growing needs of the country’s residents.
The new reservoirs, each with a capacity of 100mn gallons, are the largest concrete reservoirs in the world. It is also heartening to know that Kahramaa has launched efforts for the construction of the second phase of the water project, targeted to meet the requirements until 2036. Under the proposed programme, more reservoirs will be built and the storage capacity raised to 3,800mn gallons.
What Kahramaa has embarked on is an essential project meant to ensure water security for a country heavily dependent on desalination of seawater for over 90% of its requirements. Qatar, which has the highest per capita income in the world, also happens to have the highest water consumption per capita, despite having extremely limited fresh water resources and one of the lowest levels of annual rainfall.
Desalination is expensive. According to Bloomberg, quoted by author Christina Boyes in an article in MuslimScience, “most of the cost of a desalination plant is tied to the energy the plants consumes – an average of 15,000 kilowatt hours for every million gallons of desalinated water produced. Constructing a plant can cost as little as $21mn and upwards. A plant recently constructed in California, cost nearly $1bn. Water delivery costs must also be incorporated into calculations, as well as maintenance, upkeep, and the cost of the desalination process itself”.
Gulf Times had reported in February this year that Qatar would soon become the first Arab country to enact a landmark legislation against wastage of energy and water resources, quoting Kahramaa president Essa bin Hilal al-Kuwari, on the sidelines of the launch of the Tarsheed 22 (T22) campaign, jointly undertaken with the Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy.
The T22 campaign, which would make full use of the passion that Qatar’s young generation has for football, is aimed at enhancing children’s awareness on energy conservation. The educational awareness project, is being launched initially in 22 independent schools involving close to 1,500 children. These schools are located in the communities near the 2022 FIFA World Cup venues across the country.
