Mobile pumping stations to clear water
sharjah — Sharjah has got three mobile pumping stations — called Al Sadd — to clear roads of rainwater that causes traffic bottlenecks and inconvenience people.
Each station will be able to pull out about 2 million litres of water in an hour, sources said. Speaking to Khaleej Times, Thabet Al Taraifi, director-general of the Sharjah Municipality, said that the mobile pumping station is not just the firstof-its-kind in the UAE, but also in the entire Middle East and North Africa region. They are being introduced to face challenges posed by waterlogging during the rains on roundabouts, squares, internal as well as main roads, particularly in the industrial and commercial areas of the emirate. The mobile pumping machines are capable of draining stagnant water in a short time and clear the road for traffic.
Taraifi said that the inauguration of Al Sadd pumping stations represents a qualitative leap aimed at consolidating Sharjah’s position among the most ready-made cities. It has the ability to deal quickly with crises, disasters and emergencies caused by natural disasters and unusual weather conditions such as floods or heavy rainfall.
Al Sadd plant has been modified according to the requirements and technical specifications that are suitable for the use of the municipality and the geographic nature of the Emirate of Sharjah. “It’s manufactured in the US,” he added. Taraifi revealed that the municipality has developed a plan to increase the number of mobile pumping stations for use in different areas in Sharjah, especially in the coastal and eastern areas, which have witnessed frequent floods during the past years.
Hassan Al Tafaq, director of environment department at the Sharjah Municipality, said the pumping station is sort of modified truck equipped with a quick flow pump so that the truck can be driven directly to areas affected by floods and water pools in areas where the water level reaches 1.5 meters.
Every ‘mobile pumping station’ contains three suction points to collect large amounts of water in the shortest possible time, in addition to the multiple collection holes to withdraw flood water from the affected areas and control conditions. The new pump also contains four discharge points for disposal of water collected in the temporary collection ponds or directly discharged into the sea. Equipped with sound-proof and fire-resistant technology, it has special LED and cluster lamps along with high-resolution cameras.