Fujairah wants 17 dams built to protect East Coast villages

The Dibba Al Fujairah Municipality has urged that 17 dams be built to protect villages from being inundated.

The appeal comes in the wake of heavy rain which lashed the region three days ago. The water level behind eight major dams in Al Bedya, Sharm and Al Qurayyah villages has increased and there is a need protect the villages, said Mattar Saleh Al Kaabi, Director of the municipality.

He urged the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries to set up seven big dams and 10 small ones along the East Coast.

He said: "Water entered more than 70 houses in Al Bedya and Sharm. The road linking the new houses to the old ones at Al Qurayyah village was damaged. Another study should be carried out to see how many areas still need dams.

"One big dam is needed north of Sharm village where houses were badly affected by the rain and three should be set up in Dhadna on the valleys of Asfa, Rukbi El-Rul, and Mid Dhadna."

Another dam should also be constructed to the north of Al Bedya village to stop rain water from flowing into the valleys.

"Though Al Bedya has three concrete dams in Al Wareiyah, Al Sudiyah and Ghalilah Al Khun, the village needs more dams since the area has several small valleys."

Two other big dams are needed at Wadi Al Abadelah and at Wadi Wumm, he said.

Al Kaabi said 10 small dams should also be constructed in Dibba city, replacing the sandy dams and barriers built by the Dibba Al Fujairah Municipality a long time ago.

"The damage to the asphalt road linking the old village of Al Qurayyah with the 200 new houses has prompted the villagers to appeal to the authorities to build a new dam at the western side of the village to protect them against the rain water."

There are more than 30 big valleys along the East Coast in addition to the smaller ones into which rain water flows during winter. The six major dams are not enough to protect some mountainous villages and support underground water storage, said Al Kaabi.

The oldest dams built in the early 1970s were set up at Siji Wadi which is 29km from Fujairah city. The Siji valley starts in Masafi and has arterial branches in Murbedh, Kokah and Kidra.

The Siji Wadi dam is 500 metres long and 10 metres high. It holds 1.2 million cubic metres of water. Another basin annexe was built behind the dam to increase its present capacity by four times.

The biggest dam was built in Fujairah in 1983. The biggest Ham valley is 30km long. It has arteries and small valleys like Firfar, Sahm, Biqa, Midouk and Ahati. The Ham dam is 2.8km long and cost around Dh37 million. It can retain 10 million cubic metres of water.

"When rain water was flowing into Wadi Zakt a long time ago, it caused damage and accidents in the surrounding villages. But the government set up a huge dam on Wadi Zakt to hold more than 3 million cubic metres of water. It greatly helps in enhancing the underground water storage and preventing soil erosion."

The Zakt dam has the capacity to discharge 1,677 cubic metres of water per second. Water in the dam is discharged when the level reaches to 13.4 metres, he added.

The Al Tawiyeen dam was built in 1991 on the most dangerous mountainous valleys with highest rainfall. The dam has the highest capacity of 81.5 million cubic metres of water.

Al Wareiyah dam was also built in 1997 on the Al Wareiyah valley which is well-known for its waterfalls. The dam is 367 metres long and can hold more than 5.2 million cubic metres of water in its three barriers.

"The other major dams built in the East Coast include Al Baseerah Thaib and Safad near Al Qurayyah village."

The East Coast has also valleys in Al Hail, Laban, Uhfara, Habhab, Maidaq, Fai, Dalum, Al Rakibi, Qunn, Farfar, Medouq, Khasarah, Al Salwi, Al Hamri and others.