Oman's MRMWR spends over RO2mn on wells, aflaj

(MENAFN- Muscat Daily) The Ministry of Regional Municipalities and Water Resources (MRMWR) has invested more than RO2mn this year in digging new wells and maintaining aflaj systems across the country.

Recognising aflaj system and their supporting wells to be the most important source of water in the interiors, priority has been given to follow up on maintenance work of all those aflaj, which serve large swathes of population and farm fields.

Eng Mahmoud al Azri

Eng Mahmoud al Azri, director of Aflaj Directorate, MRMWR, said that the ministry issued orders to implement 52 projects between January 1 and September 8 to maintain aflaj and their supporting wells across various governorates. The total cost of the implementation of these projects is RO1.04mn. While an additional RO996,739 has been spent on digging 50 wells around the aflaj to support continuous supply of water.

He added the ministry has prepared a comprehensive plan to maintain those aflaj affected with poor water flow and damages caused over the years because of poor management.

He mentioned that there are a number of factors contributing to deterioration of aflaj, such as irregular maintenance. ''Scarcity of rainfall over the previous years in some areas has led to inadequate replenishment of the aquifers. Additionally, many wells were dug near the aflaj before regulations and laws on water came into force. This led to over exploitation of wells resulting in depletion of water level in the vicinity,'' he said.

About the requirement and criteria for approval of maintaining aflaj on priority, Eng Azri said that they should be used for irrigation.

''Priority is given to afalaj with poor or damaged construction and inadequate water levels. Additionally, afalaj that water extensive lands and benefit a large number of people are also given priority. The ministry also takes into consideration if a particular falaj is the only water resource in the area.''

The Directorate General of Water Resources, MRMWR, is also implementing a project to update data on water balance of the country. Considered to be one of the most crucial projects, it includes calculating all water balance elements covering 191 water bodies spread over 28 assessment areas.

The project will involve calculating vaporisation rates, flow of wadis, recharge rates, water drainage and losses, quantity of surface and ground water resources etc by using all up-to-date and available data.

The project also takes into account calculating and assessing water usage of various sectors.<