Emergency water storage facilities for Muscat planned

Muscat: Oman's Public Authority for Electricity and Water is embarking on plans to develop a string of emergency water storage reservoirs around Muscat to help tide over any water shortage in the capital city in the event of a supply disruption.

The government body is taking its cue from the disruption caused by last year's tropical cyclone Gonu, which left large swathes of the capital without piped water for nearly a week.

About a dozen locations have been identified around the city for the construction of medium-to-large sized storage tanks that will significantly augment the city's overall emergency water storage capacity.

According to the Public Authority, the emergency reservoirs will come in handy should any mishap befall the desalination plants that currently serve the capital area.

Shore based desalination plants, such as the ones that serve Muscat, are vulnerable to a host of threats, notably oil spills, jelly fish accumulation at the intake end, prolonged power failure, and even extreme climatic events.

In the event of any water desalination crisis, authorities pump groundwater from three well-fields located within Muscat.

But the storage capacity for water extracted from these well-fields is far too low to meet demand during an emergency. Thus, the need for additional emergency water reservoirs, say officials.

Construction of the new reservoirs is likely to commence only next year.