WATER SERVICE IN AMERAT MOVING TOWARDS SUSTAINABILITY

As part of Diam’s responsibility to provide safe drinking water to all citizens and residents of Oman and within the water sector master plan 2040, Diam works hard to overcome the difficulties and challenges in the sector in order to achieve its goal to be a world class service organization that applies the best international standards to achieve Oman’s sustainable development

Al Amerat is one of the most challenging region in achieving sustainability in the water sector.

The First Package of tender, includes the Amerat Heights 1st stage plots with an estimated number of connections of 1410, Amerat Heights 2nd stage plots with an estimated number of connections of 640, Al Nahdah 10th stage plots with an estimated number of connections of 650, and some other networks in the area with an estimated number of connections of 250. This brings the total connection served by the First Package to 2950.

The Second Package of tender, includes the Amerat Heights 1st stage plots with an estimated number of connections of 800, Amerat Heights 2nd stage plots with an estimated number of connections of 730, parts of Amerat Heights 3rd stage plots with an estimated number of connections of 1033. It also includes area of Al Mahaj with an estimated number of connections of 200 and the areas of Al Atkiyah with an estimated number of connections of 1000. This brings the total connection served by the Second Package to 3750.

Project to build water distribution network in Amerat Diam conducted various studies to plan the projects to establish water distribution networks in Amerat. It was approved by the Supreme Council for Planning. The implementation of the project will be based on a design, implementation and funding system. The tender for the project will be floated next year, and the project will cover all areas in the Wilayat of Amerat.

Water network with a reconstruction rate of more than 10%, will cover all the areas of Amerat Heights with total number of connections of more than 5,600, Al Nahdah with total number of connections of more than 16,500, and AlHajir with total number of connections of more than 7,550. The project will be covering many other villages in the areas near these listed locations to make the total number of connections to more than 29,500. Total cost of the project will be in excess of 36 million Omani Rials, including the construction of five water tanks with a total storage capacity of about 23 million gallons, six pumping stations and 452 km long water network pipelines.

Challenges in enhancing the existing networks

Some of the existing water networks were implemented long before the establishment of the Public Authority of Water, does not correspond to the current water demand in the area. There has been tremendous increase in the water demand in the recent years, due to the urban expansion and improved economic activities witnessed in these areas. Considering these, Diam is taking a proactive role in enhancing the old networks which require a lot of time, effort and money. It requires removing old pipes which are nearing their lifespan, and replacing them with modern pipelines with high quality specifications. These new pipelines will ensure Diam to be capable of keeping up with the exponential increase in the number of commercial and residential buildings thus effecting the water demand in these areas. The process of selecting the pipelines are according to the strict procedures followed by Diam in order to make sure that they comply highest specifications, standards, and requirements taking the challenges posed by difficult terrain in the natural geographical location of the area into consideration.

Another challenge faced by Diam in the wilayat of Amerat is due to the implementation of various service projects simultaneously, due to the expansion witnessed by the area. While implementing these projects, the most prominent of which are the sanitation projects and the telecommunications services for which excavation works are required, causes damage to water networks. They also cause breakdowns in the networks and Diam has to ensure the water supply is restored at the earliest. Sometimes, some of the companies which cause these damages will repair the breakdown themselves without reporting them to the authorities concerned with materials and tasks completed without conforming to approved specifications and conditions and thus causing problems in this network in the future.

Maintenance of Water Networks

Diam carries out timely maintenance of its networks to ensure the sustainability in the water sector. Diam has carried out a number of maintenance networks to contribute to the achievement of sustainability in the water sector in the Wilayat of Amerat, the most prominent of which includes the implementation of the rehabilitation work for the water system in Amerat, where the rehabilitation of the water networks in the wilayat in areas of first, fourth and fifth phase. During the coming period rehabilitation of networks in the rest of the Wilayat will be carried out to ensure that entire Wilayat is fully rehabilitated. In addition to this, Diam cancelled the maintenance and operation contract with the company that was contracted, due to receiving a number of observations from the stakeholders about the company and its non-compliance with some of the terms of the contract, most notably the rapid response to the communications. The maintenance and operation contract in the Wilayat is awarded to a new company who took control from the beginning of September. Notable improvements in performance were ensured by continuous follow-up and evaluation of the performance of the new company.

In order to cover the growing demand in this area, Diam has strengthened the water network in the area where water is pumped to the area from the new desalination plant in Qurayyat, the desalination plant in Ghubra. Prior to this water was pumped only from the Ghubra Desalination Plant, adding the Qurayyat Desalination Plant additionally, which has a capacity of production of 200,000 cubic meters per day. This ensures the guarantee of sustainability in the provision of water demand in the area.