1mn cubic metre dam in Ibri to recharge groundwater
Times News Service
MUSCAT: A new groundwater recharge dam is being constructed at Wadi Al Saleef in Ibri, the Ministry of Regional Municipalities and Water Resources announced.
According to an official statement, “The ministry has issued an operation order to implement the groundwater recharge dam at Wadi Al Saleef in the wilayat of Ibri in Al Dhahirah Governorate, with a storage capacity of up to one million cubic metres.”
It added, “The dam, which has a length of some 3.2km and a height of 8.6 metres, will be constructed from sand, with attachments of soft concrete and a caged border filled with different sized stones. Various tools will be implemented for underground, rainfall, and pool water levels.”
The Directorate of Municipalities and Water Resources at Al Dhahirah said that the location was handed over to the company overseeing the construction earlier this month, with experts and officials having visited the site.
The ministry’s statement added, “Underwater recharge dams are vital for developing water resources and for making use of rain, which often flows into the sea or desert. This water can recharge underwater pools, which then means that the water can be used for various projects.”
According to the ministry, efforts are currently underway to construct all three types of dams (underground recharge, storage, and flood preventions) in the Sultanate. Dams can also boost tourism in some cases, depending on the area.
Talal bin Khalfan Al Shuaibi, Director of the Department of Internal Tourism in North Sharqiyah, said that wadis in the Wadi Bani Khalid region constantly flow throughout the year, through narrow passages on the southern side of the eastern Al Hajar mountains. A traditional dam was built by Omanis to provide water storage to be used for irrigation of the plantations and date palm trees in the wadi, in the area of Muqill.
Last year, at the third International Symposium on Flash Floods and Wadi Systems held at the German University of Technology (GUTech), more than 100 experts from across the world met to discuss how the danger of flash floods could be mitigated. A water resource expert at the ministry said that building dams and updating flash flood maps were essential in this regard.