More than  71% of the reclamation and rehabilitation works of Al Karaana Lagoon has been completed and the project is scheduled to be commissioned in the third quarter of 2020, Ashghal announced yesterday.
Al Karaana Lagoon, located 60km southwest of Doha, has been used since 2006 to receive liquid industrial waste discharged by tankers. In 2016, the lagoon also started receiving treated sewage water from Al Karaana treatment station.
French firm, Suez, which is one of the leaders in the field of soil treatment, was awarded the reclamation and rehabilitation contract for Al Karaana Lagoon in December last year. The area of the project is estimated at 4.5km and it includes removal works as well as excavation works on large areas.
At the site visit on Sunday, Ashghal president Saad bin Ahmad al-Mohannadi said the completion of the project would benefit the authority’s efforts to increase the green areas in the country and also to enhance sustainability and protect the environment. “This will reduce the effects of the environmental and health risks that such wastes and pollutants may leave,” he said. 
Ashghal’s Drainage Networks Projects Department manager Khalid al-Kayareen said the implementation of the project is proceeding at a rapid pace and it includes the implementation of the reclamation and beautification works on a vast area. It is expected that the artificial lagoons will form a habitat for birds and fish.
The project aims to reclaim and rehabilitate the site to avoid health risks to the surrounding environment and also re-establish a natural habitat for wildlife and migratory birds in Qatar. This will be through the construction of evaporation lagoons, artificial lagoons, mobile thermal drying unit and other facilities being constructed through the project. The main challenges facing the implementation of the project are in managing and treating contaminated residue while receiving liquid industrial waste in the same location on one hand and on the other hand it will create a beautiful natural environment for wildlife in Qatar.
Two temporary industrial effluent treatment evaporation lagoons have been built as part of the project. The lagoons are protected by a high-density polyethylene with an evaporation area of 370,000sq m and 1.2mn cu m of liquid waste storage capacity in addition to oil separation units. Both lagoons are already in operation. 
Three lagoons are being constructed with a total area of 730,000sq m, designed to evaporate over 2mn cu m per year of treated wastewater from neighbouring treatment plant (Al Karaana treatment plant). These artificial lagoons will later form a habitat for wildlife for birds and fish.
A 60,000sq m landfill with a high density of polyethylene is currently under construction. The landfill was designed to receive and contain solid contaminated residue.
A mobile thermal drying unit was imported from the Netherlands, specially to treat highly polluted soil. The unit would heat contaminated soil at 400C to process approximately 40,000 tonnes of sludge over a period of five months to reduce the hydrocarbon content from the residue, then get rid of the treated soil in a landfill that has been allocated for this purpose.
After decontamination, beautification and landscaping work will be carried out on the site to recreate a natural environment for wildlife.


Related Story