DOHA: Qatar’s water production capacity increased by 15 percent in 2017 with the opening of phase one of the Integrated Water and Power Project (IWPP) in Umm Al Houl, Qatar General Electricity and Water Corporation (Kahramaa) said in a statement issued on the occasion of Arab Water Day.
“The project is expected to provide after the completion of all phases by second half 2018 a total of 136 million gallons of water raising the total water production in the country to about 480 million gallons per day with the capacity of 23 percent water production reserve, said Kahramaa President Eng Essa bin Hilal Al Kuwari. Kahramaa observes the Arab Water Day on March 3 under the theme “Interconnection between water, food and energy for life sustainability” to underline the importance of water for the achievement of sustainable development and enhance the ongoing economic and urban development in the country.
On the occasion H E Dr Mohammad bin Saleh Al Sada, Minister of Energy and Industry said, “We are living in a region that is considered one of the areas where water resources are most scarce as we are facing various challenges, the most serious of which is the fast depletion of the groundwater, increasing salinity and the steady increase in demand for water due to growing population and fast economic development of the country.”
“Arab Water Day is observed to remind people of the strong relationship between water, energy and food security,” said Al Sada. He pointed out that this year’s theme highlights the importance of understanding the interconnection between water resources and their management to achieve sustainability. Growing demand has led to import of food and reliance on energy in desalination of water.
“Qatar gives great importance to water sector under a comprehensive system in line with Qatar National Vision 2030 to achieve integration in all sectors to ensure sustainability of life and development to ensure better life for the coming generation. The Ministry represented by Kahramaa made necessary plans to upgrade the key facilities of water sector to increase production and meet the growing demand of water,” he said.
Dr Mohammad bin Saleh Al Sada said that Kahramaa took several steps to meet the requirements of sustainability development including the Water Security Mega Reservoirs project that aims at building 15 tanks for water storage, the largest one in the country with the capacity of 1,500 million gallons to increase the strategic water reserve in the country in a big way.
Arab Water Day is being marked by highlighting key challenges on drinking water sources in Arab countries and those related to the importance of bringing about solutions to the achievement of sustainable development.
The President of Kahramaa underlined that Kahramaa is also implementing the Water Security Mega Reservoirs project to ensure the water security in the country. “The ambitious project that is considered the backbone of water security for Qatar includes 15 giant tanks, the largest in the world with the capacity of 150 million gallons each tank,” said Al Kuwari.
He added that Kahramaa laid pipes of different sizes in a stretch of about 650 kilometres to connect the tanks with water desalinating plants. “Phase one project will add about 1,500 gallons water to the strategic water reserve of the country that will be enough to cover the need by 2026,” said Al Kuwari.
He said that the phase one of Water Security Mega Reservoirs project will be opened by the first half of 2018 as per the directive of the Emir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani at the inauguration of 46th session of the Advisory Council.
“Kahramaa is also working through its National Programme for Conservation and Energy Efficiency “Tarsheed” to increase the awareness level of the community on the importance of adopting preventive steps to reduce the consumption of electricity and water,” said Al Kuwari.
He said that the move also aims at making appropriate rate of per capita consumption of electricity and water in the country with the help of various technologies, legislations and initiatives.
“Kahramaa is also working to utilise the sources of renewable energy and to adopt new technology for water desalination as per the high standard of efficiency to boost the energy efficiency for sustainability,” said Al Kuwari.
He said that Tarsheed programme aims at cutting the per capita consumption of electricity by 25 percent and water by 35 percent by 2022.
On Arab Water Day, Kahramaa reassures that it is committed to providing high quality water as per the international standard to its customers and to develop the necessary infrastructure to meet the water demand of the country, said Al Kuwari adding that Kahramaa will go ahead with its programme to increase the strategic water reserve to ensure the water security of the country.
