Master Plan for Water Sector, OmanOman
is an arid country on the south-eastern side of the Arabian
peninsula. Rainfall is low and erratic, and there is almost
no perennial surface water. In the past, Omani communities have
developed either on the coast or, inland, around the falaj
(an open watercourse fed by a spring or a near horizontal adit
constructed to tap the water table), which met domestic water
requirements as well as irrigating the date gardens and annual
crops. Management of the falaj was at the heart of
traditional Omani society and the falaj system always
maintained consumption of water in balance with resources.
However, in recent years, rapid increases in population, new
technology and rising living standards have placed a strain on the
available water and many aquifers are now heavily overdrawn.
Mott MacDonald prepared a master plan for the water sector,
principally for domestic and industrial water supplies. The
objective was to present a plan that would minimise costs of
municipal water supplies whilst maintaining traditional irrigated
agriculture.
Agriculture accounts for 93% of water use in Oman and much of it
has minimal financial benefits, but is considered fundamental to
maintaining the landscape and traditional Omani villages. Thus,
whilst diverting water from agriculture to domestic and industrial
use may offer the least cost solution, it is unlikely to be
politically acceptable. Following an extensive review of all
available information on water resources, agricultural development,
and current municipal and rural water supply systems, and
discussions with senior government officials, it was clear that
desalination of seawater would be the only feasible source for many
urban water supplies. Large regional schemes, based on seawater
desalination plants, were proposed to meet the projected demands
for water in both coastal and inland communities. For the main
plan, groundwater sources were only proposed where there were
confirmed resources not utilised for agriculture, and for small
remote rural communities. An alternative plan was presented that
maximised the use of groundwater from outside the main agricultural
areas blended with desalinated seawater. Such a policy could
potentially reduce investments from around £2,000 million to £1,700
million, but would depend on the outcome of extensive groundwater
investigations to confirm the resource.
In addition to identifying and costing water supply schemes, the
master plan made proposals for institutional development, private
sector participation, tariff policy, leakage control and re-use of
sewage effluent. The institutional and financial proposals aimed at
the creation of independent water authorities funded primarily from
their own revenues.
