Agreement signed to treat 265,000 cubic metres of waste water

Bauer Nimr, an environmental service provider specialised in the clean-up of water and soil, on Wednesday signed an agreement to launch the third phase of expansion of the Nimr Water Treatment Plant (NWTP).

The company was awarded the world’s largest industrial constructed wetland in Oman on behalf of Petroleum Development Oman (PDO) last year.

After the expansion, the plant will be able to treat 265,000 cubic metres of water. The pact, to be implemented by the company in partnership with Oman National Development Company and others in cooperation with PDO.

The project will be financed by Bank Muscat and Deg-german Bank.

The first phase of the plant for treating contaminated water from oil extraction was completed in 2011.

In 2014, it was expanded to treat 115,000m3 used water per day as part of the second phase and later expanded to a total capacity of 175,000m3 per day.

“We are exploring solar power to desalinate water to use for the national plan of planting one million palm trees. The water is currently used for extraction of oil and partly for environment,” Simon Karam, Chairman of Al Taher Group of companies said.

The most-sophisticated wetland treatment technology is unique as it uses gravity flow and natural processes to remove a heavy load of hydrocarbons from water.

The added advantage is the hydrocarbon content in water has been reduced to below 0.5 ppm at the outlet of wetlands and almost 95 per cent of crude oil entering the facility is recovered without the use of electricity or chemicals.