Oman observed World Water Day on May 22nd with seminars organised on line amidst the wait for rain to replenish groundwater. In Oman the focus is also on recycling water.
The Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Water Resources, Sultan Qaboos University and FAO office in Oman at a webinar discussed the various aspects of water, especially the value of water. This year’s theme is the value of water.
“The value of water is not about tariff. Water is life. Valuing water is not only pricing or putting a price on water. As you know, the value of water for us in Oman is since a long time in the falaj system and it can be seen in the way it has been taken care of,” explained Zahir al Sulaimani, Chairman of Oman Water Society.
This year it is about valuing each drop of water. “We have not had rain this year during winter, which is a sign of drought. Now everyone is looking forward to summer rains. It is difficult for the farmers as they are facing salinity in water that has been used for agriculture.
Oman Water Society has been playing an important role in maintaining some of the old aflaj with the support of some of the banks. The public is the main supporter when it comes to conserving water, pointed out the chairman of Oman Water Society.
“Without the effort from the public the objective cannot be met. The public can save water in households, in irrigation and even when they go for picnics in wadis and aflaj. They can protect water from pollution by not leaving behind the trash. All of this is important as we celebrate World Water Day and most importantly staying committed to use water wisely,” he advised.
“Children must be educated about water especially because we are in the region as we are going through a drought. We don’t know about summer. A drought is coming and we hope we will get some rain in the next few months. Otherwise we will face shortage of water,” he added.
Would recycled water become a reality?
According to Al Sulaimani, Haya Water has already successfully tried recycled water but now the discussion on how to reach the water back to consumers.
“During the Webinar today Hayya Water shared the success in reusing water. So recycled water is already a reality. They have ambitious plans as they are already treating household water in their facility. The main issue is redistributing the treated water. Maybe it is not feasible to treat the water in each house. The optimal option is to bring it back to each house so that they can use it for flushing toilets and irrigating gardens. They plan to use it in industries and in agriculture for big farm projects that can afford transporting and distributing the treated water. But there is logistics involved, however it is a very interesting development and farmers are very keen on this development of treated water as you know the delay in rain has been hard on them as the water for agriculture has become saline and deteriorating in quality. Haya is working on it,” noted Al Sulaimani.
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