Meticulous research at root of Haya strategy

MUSCAT: Haya Water believes in the importance of research in the development and sustainability of business, which has led to the establishment of a section that carries out applied research studies.

The objective of these studies is to make Haya one of the world’s leading companies for wastewater treatment.

There are many methods of wastewater treatment and reuse and these methods are a result of hard work and development carried out by researchers. The department concerned was able to complete the master plan for Research & Development (R&D).

The master plan includes: determining the importance of study, selecting the technical criteria and approval requirements, identifying necessary resources that contribute to the completion of studies, determining the methodology for implementing research and development activities and allocating the budget and financing research activities.

Sulaiman bin Khamis al Qasmi, General Manager of Assets Management at Haya Water, said the company, since its establishment, has been interested in producing high quality treated wastewater at a low cost.

Haya Water seeks to develop technical aspects to find alternative solutions that are effective in terms of technology, processing costs, equipment efficiency, and sustainable treatment methodology to achieve capital and operational savings.

Al Qasmi said one of the most important applied studies for this year is the wetland treatment system. The study aims to evaluate the wetland system as one of the sustainable solutions in wastewater treatment in the governorates.

A pilot wetland processing unit with a capacity of 50 cubic metres per day has been designed, constructed and operated at the Qurayat sewage treatment plant (STP).

Preliminary results have shown the quality of the treated wastewater is consistent with the objectives of the study.

Buthaina bint Mahfoud al Wahaibi ( pictured), Process Engineer and Manager of the Wetlands Project in Haya Water, said wetland treatment systems have many advantages as they are a natural alternative for biological treatment using reeds as a replacement for mechanical equipment.

The operation and maintenance of wetland systems are simple and they do not require high operational skills and thus Omani human resources can be recruited for this job.