Record rain has put pressure on dams

Dubai: Dams across the UAE collected record amounts of water in the last two years with unprecedented seasonal rainfall as well as cyclone Gonu putting more pressure on the water barriers.

Dr Rashid Ahmad Bin Fahd, Minister of Environment and Water, inspected some dams to assess their maintenance needs before the winter on Monday, which is usually accompanied by heavy rains.

The ministry supervises 84 dams all over the UAE, which are very important to protect surrounding areas from floods and preserve water resources as well as discharge excess water in a controlled way.

Al Dhaid particularly suffers from heavy exhaustion of groundwater resulting from heavy pumping of groundwater, which affects water levels and agricultural activities.

Bin Fahd visited Wadi Ashwani dam built in 2001 in the central region, where maintenance work is currently being carried out to clean the dam's lake and remove silt and stones to increase its capacity.

Safani and Al Siji dams were visited, which are supply dams in the central region, Shoka dam, which is a storage dam that was built to protect the surrounding area from floods and provide water.

Inspections

There are two storage dams in the region, while the rest are supply dams, which have groundwater supplies depending on their geological and surface nature.

Bin Fahd also inspected measuring water wells used by the ministry to monitor groundwater levels in different areas. These levels are measured monthly and the readings are entered into the ministry's database.

In 2006 up to 21 million cubic metres of rainwater collected in two weeks in December putting pressure on 53 dams across the country.

The rainfall which took the country by surprise at that time was the highest recorded for that time of year in the UAE in the last 10 years, according to the Ministry of Environment and Water.

The reservoirs of more than 50 dams, mainly in Fujairah and Ras Al Khaimah, were filled to the brim over the last two weeks, with some being emptied at least once before they were filled up again with rainwater from wadis.

Reservoirs in Ras Al Khaimah recorded maximum water depths of 11.5 metres in some areas, containing around 500,000 cubic metres. In Fujairah reservoirs 6 metres deep collected 30,000 cubic metres of water.

The total amount of water collected by 38 dams was 3.605 million cubic metres.

- With inputs from Dina Aboul Hosn, Translator