Qatar on path to achieve water security

The laying of the foundation stone of the QR17bn Mega Reservoirs Project last week at Al Mazrouah, on the outskirts of Umm Salal Ali and about 40km from Doha, is a major development with regard to achieving water security for Qatar, which is dependent on desalination of seawater.The reservoir in Al Marzouah is one of the five mega reservoirs to be set up in the country as part of the project, expected to be fully commissioned by the middle of 2018. The works of other reservoirs will be taken up in coming months in Umm Birka, Rawdat al Rashed, Abu Nakhla and Al Thumama.The mega reservoirs are being built as part of a government plan to meet the growing requirements for potable water in the country which witnessed a huge growth in its population in the last one decade.Potable or desalinated water for the country’s residents is generated at locations in Ras Laffan and Ras Aboud. The water, now delivered directly to small reservoirs across the country, will be routed to the mega reservoirs when their construction is completed, three years from now.Qatar now has facilities to store more than 900mn gallons a day (mlgd). The five new reservoirs, when completed, will together have 24 storage tanks and they will ensure an additional storage capacity of nearly 2,273mlgd. At present, the peak daily demand of potable water in the country exceeds 330mlgd.Apart from the cost involved, the project is massive also in terms of the size and capacity of the new reservoirs, each of which spread over 1sq km, are among the largest in the world, according to Kahramaa officials.The water stored in each mega reservoir at one time would be close to what is usually stored in more than 500 Olympic standard swimming pools. While the concept behind the mega reservoirs project should definitely be lauded, efforts ought to be augmented to boost water and electricity conservation. It was announced last month that Qatar made an effective saving of about QR600mn since the launch of the Tarsheed campaign by Kahramaa to reduce consumption of electricity and water.Since the campaign began on April 22, 2012, there has been an identical overall reduction of 11% in the total consumption of water and electricity in the country. The campaign has also helped reduce carbon dioxide emissions by nearly 1.8mn tonnes, and gas waste by 43,000mn cubic ft, until the end of December last year.The target set by Kahramaa is to make a gross reduction of 35% in the consumption of water and 20% in electricity until 2017. While this goal is undoubtedly a commendable one, more needs to be done. Every resident of Qatar should understand that water and electricity saved are equal to water and electricity produced.