Beyond water: The true value of Oman's dams

When a dam fills after heavy rain, attention naturally turns to the water behind it. We measure the volume captured and watch the level rise.
But a dam’s real value often lies beyond its walls — in the farm that keeps producing, the road that stays open, the well that is replenished and the business that avoids disruption.
Oman should therefore begin treating its dams not only as water infrastructure, but as economic assets.
As of the end of February 2026, the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Water Resources supervised 209 dams nationwide. The country’s surface-storage and groundwater-recharge dams had a combined capacity of approximately 458.7 million cubic metres, while the network had impounded more than 3.17 billion cubic metres of floodwater by the end of 2025.
These figures describe scale. They do not capture the full economic return.
A flood-protection dam rarely produces a visible revenue stream. Much of its value lies in losses avoided: damage to homes, commercial property, roads, electricity and communications networks, farms and other public infrastructure.
The absence of damage rarely becomes an economic headline. Yet it carries measurable value.
A road that remains open during severe weather keeps workers and goods moving. A commercial district that avoids flooding loses fewer trading days. A farm that retains access to groundwater can sustain production, employment and rural income.
The Wadi Al Jifnain Dam in Muscat illustrates the point. Inaugurated in February 2025 at a cost of RO 45.6 million, the dam has a storage capacity of 11.5 million cubic metres. It was designed to protect commercial and residential areas in Al Khoudh, Al Hail and Al Mawaleh, as well as development projects downstream.
Its performance should therefore not be judged only by the volume of water it holds. It should also be measured against the value of homes, businesses, public infrastructure and future development that it helps protect.
The same principle applies in Dhofar.
The Wadi An’ar Dam, inaugurated in May 2025 at a cost of approximately RO 23 million, has a storage capacity of around 16 million cubic metres and forms part of Salalah’s flood-protection system.
Its economic importance lies partly in protecting a growing urban economy whose roads, homes, commercial activities, tourism facilities and public services face recurring seasonal and climatic pressures.
Protection, however, is only part of the picture.
Groundwater-recharge dams slow the movement of floodwater and allow more of it to enter underground aquifers. This is particularly important in areas such as the Al Batinah Plain, where groundwater supports agriculture and local communities.
Surface-storage dams perform a different function, particularly in mountainous and remote areas. They make water available for residents, livestock and agricultural activity, helping communities remain economically viable where alternative supplies may be difficult or expensive.
The government’s support for community-funded dams also reflects this wider value. From 2026, the state contribution towards eligible community dam projects increased from 20 per cent to 50 per cent.
Eight community dams were completed in 2025, bringing the total to 35 across Al Batinah North, Al Dhahirah and Al Dakhiliyah, while another 19 were under construction.
This model matters. It shows that communities can view a dam not merely as a public structure, but as infrastructure that helps preserve water sources, farms, livelihoods and long-term settlement.
Oman’s next step should be to establish a formal framework for measuring the economic value of its dams.
For each major project, such an assessment could estimate the value of property and infrastructure protected, the number of residents and businesses benefiting, the reduction in expected disruption, changes in groundwater availability and the value of agricultural activity made more resilient.
The figures would not be exact. The benefits of avoided disasters and stronger groundwater security are inherently difficult to calculate.
But an informed estimate would still provide a more complete picture than assessing a dam mainly through construction cost, dimensions and storage capacity.
This approach is widely used in flood-risk management internationally. Economic assessments compare expected damage with and without a project, while broader socioeconomic analysis can include business disruption, agricultural losses, transport interruptions and other indirect effects.
Oman does not need to copy another country’s framework exactly. It can develop a national model suited to its geography, settlement patterns, water conditions and development priorities.
Such a framework would also sharpen investment decisions.
A flood-protection dam serving a densely populated urban area has a different economic purpose from a small storage dam supporting a mountain community. A recharge dam serving agricultural land must be assessed differently from a structure built mainly to protect roads, homes and commercial districts.
Economic evaluation could help determine where new dams offer the greatest return, where maintenance should be prioritised and where drainage improvements, land-use controls or nature-based measures may be more suitable than another dam.
Maintenance provides a useful example.
In 2025, Oman completed maintenance work on four dams in Muscat at a cost of approximately RO 242,000, restoring a combined storage capacity of about 13.39 million cubic metres.
Presented only as a budget item, this is maintenance expenditure. Viewed economically, it preserves the effectiveness of infrastructure that supports groundwater recharge and helps protect villages, farms and developed areas.
That distinction matters.
Water security is not separate from economic security. It affects food production, property, transport, public services, investment confidence and the ability of communities to withstand increasingly variable weather conditions.
Oman Vision 2040 places water and food security, sustainable resource management and climate resilience among the country’s long-term priorities. Dams contribute to all three, but their role will remain underestimated for as long as they are described mainly through engineering statistics.
The Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Water Resources, working with the National Centre for Statistics and Information and other relevant agencies, could pilot an economic assessment of two or three major dams.
Wadi Al Jifnain and Wadi An’ar would provide useful starting points because their protective functions and surrounding economic areas are relatively clear.
A transparent pilot could show the value of assets protected, disruption avoided, water resources supported and maintenance preserved. It could then form the basis of a standard methodology for future projects.
Oman has built a substantial network of dams. The next stage is to make clear what that network is actually worth — not only in the water it holds, but in the farms it keeps productive, the roads it keeps open and the losses it quietly prevents.