Treated water drained into sea turn

Much of Oman is mountainous, so farms are concentrated on strips of flat land close to the shoreline. The farmers there are facing an increasingly tough problem. Their farms don’t get enough rain, so they rely on ground water to grow their crops.

Almost 58 per cent farmers interviewed in the research survey declared that the quality of groundwater was extremely poor.

Some farmers used desalinated groundwater or bought treated water supplied by agencies.

On being asked if they would agree to use treated water for irrigation, 86 per cent of respondents agreed to use it, whilst 8 per cent were undecided and 6 per cent disagreed.

The respondents who were undecided and disagreed about using treated water were asked to justify the reasons.

Only 44 per cent of them mentioned concerns of adverse health impact and distrust about the water quality.

But the demand for water has far outstripped the rate at which these underground wells are replenished, of which has drawn seawater into the wells’ supply.

On average, the monthly cost of water used for irrigation is RO 70 per farm regardless of the source of water.

The report showed that the dominant crops are date palms in 94 per cent of the farms followed by alfalfa and Rhodes grass cultivated for animal feed.

These crops are grown as they can tolerate water salinity.

A number of other crops are cultivated in a very limited area that was not productive due to high water salinity.

Experts say scientific evidence supports agricultural use of recycled water.

According to the World Health Organization, treated water is safe.

Even viruses through membranebased technology are removed.

“There is not even a single piece of evidence that treated wastewater use on agriculture presents any public health issues,” the WHO points out in a report.

However, the use of recycled water for drinking, however, is less common, largely because many people are repelled by the thought of water that’s been in our toilets going to the taps.

But a few countries like Singapore, Australia and Namibia, and states such as California, Virginia and New Mexico are already drinking recycled water, demonstrating that purified wastewater can be safe and clean, and help ease water shortages.

According to AbdulHussain, Haya Water uses wetlands technology for wastewater treatment.

“This technique removes biological, chemical and physical contaminants from wastewater using reed roots to produce treated wastewater that conforms to the standards of Ministerial Decision No 145/1993 Class A, which contributes to reducing operational costs,” he said.

Also Haya uses active carbon absorption technology that is designed to treat odours from wastewater networks.

The technology absorbs the concentrations of hydrogen sulfide gas and purifies the air, making the surrounding environment clean.

So the growing use of recycled wastewater for irrigation, landscaping, industry and toilet flushing, is a good way of conserving fresh water resources.