Existing Solutions

Rainwater Harvesting, Storage dams, Water Supply in remote areas

technical

About fifty small dams were constructed in the Jabla Al-Akhdar, which is a mountainous remote area in Oman. Water is supplied from these dams to the villages through elevation streaming by gravity or using submerged pumps with generators. It is used for livestock and agriculture.

Remote areas, villages, and mountainous areas suffer from lack of water resources. In addition, internal migration from these areas to the cities is very high. Hence, the project aimed to solve the problem of water scarcity and shortage of fresh and natural water supply for livestock and agriculture use as well as encouraging human settlement in these areas. The construction of these dams and cisterns has fulfilled the target behind constructing them as the experience shows. It also shows that rain water harvesting through such projects can be accepted as a sustainable solution for the water supply problem in such areas.

Jablal Al-Akhdar is a unique area that situated in Al-Dakhliyah Gevernorate, northern Oman. The area suffers from the scarcity of natural water resources even though the average rainfall is the highest compared to other pars of Oman. The rugged terrain with steep mountain slopes can only retain little rainfall water.

Jabal Akhdar has a spectacular scenery and it includes an important and interesting part of the Sultanate historic heritage and cultural treasures. A detailed study for developing the Jabal Akhdar was carried out by the government with consultation of the local communities during the different phases of the projects including the water resources development plans.

The projects were sponsored by the Ministry of Regional Municipalities and Water Resources with consideration and consultations of the local stakeholders as they will be the direct beneficiaries.

All dams have been constructed and the suffereing of the population in the area have been greatly reduced as water for domestic, irrigation and livestock is now readly available.

This solution proves to be tackle more than one only improved health as access to water increases, but also provides the local population with oppurtunities for sustained livelyhood from more reliable agricultural output. By doing so, this solution, although might be capital intensive, especially in remote areas, contribute to higher access to water supply and thus the benifits that follow from that.

The construction of small dams has proven as a successful decentralized solution for water access to decentralized rural communities and added to solve the problem of water scarcity and shortage of fresh and natural water in remote areas. This method was also found to be economically, socially, and environmentally feasible solution compared to other solutions that were studied. It is believed to be a sustainable, long term solution. It was noticed that these dams have helped in improving the social and economical situations which in turns encouraged the local to settle down in their villages.

While the Ministry supervised the constructions of the dams, monitoring of the structures remains the responsibilty of the Ministery in close association from the local communities that benifit from the project.

About 40 other small storage dams were constructed in different remote areas following the successful experience of Jabal Al-Akhdar dams. These dams can provide water for different remote areas where the natural resources are limited or scarce. This solution is feasible economically and socially, and has no effects on the downstream residents.

 Additionally, construction of Dayqah dam (stage 1) with a storage capacity of 100 Mm3 has also been completed and the project regarding treatment and water supply system from this dam to Muscat and Quriyat (stage 2) is to start shortly. This will provide water for domestic and agricultural use for Quriyat area and also Musact area to minimize the dependence on the desalinization plants and maximize the benefits of using natural surface water resource that was wasted to the sea.

Small Storage dams should be used whenever possible in remote areas due to their reasonable cost compared with other hydrologic structures.

However, assessment of water availability and demands for different sectors, site investigation, environmental impact of the project on the project area and downstream users, needs to be studied carefully.

Additionally, in such remote mountainous areas, construction material and transport need to be considered and use of local materials should be preferable when ever is possible.

The Ministry of Regional Municipalities and Water Resources, and the locals in similar areas are studying and investigations any possibilities of replicating the experience when ever is applicable.

Ministry of Regional Municipalities – Sultanate of Oman

Directorate General of Water Resources Assessment

Tel: 00968-24698334

Fax: 00968-24698623

Website: http://www.mrmwr.gov.om/

http://www.mrmwr.gov.om/