(MENAFN- Muscat Daily) More than half of Oman's population depends on the public water system for household use a study by the National Centre for Statistics and Information (NCSI) has found. Fifty-three per cent of Oman's population uses public water distribution system for household purposes while 21 per cent depends on wells it said.
The 'Drinking Water Sources and Household Water' study states that household drinking water sources increased at a rate of 24.3 per cent between 2003 and 2010. The censuses conducted in 2003 and 2010 show that the demand for public water network increased at the rate of 0.76 per cent.
The use of bottled water also increased by 1.81 per cent and government-run water distribution points increased by 0.5 per cent. In Muscat governorate the biggest source was bottled water at 39 per cent.
Bottled water has economic and environmental effects as it not only adds to people's household expenses but also poses a threat to the environment the study said. Meanwhile a drop was seen in the other sources of household water in the two censuses. The other sources include wells outside houses (0.54 per cent) aflaj (0.34 per cent) and private wells (0.05 per cent).
The study also showed that bottled water was second on the list of drinking water sources in the sultanate at about 24 per cent. Public water distribution points were third in the list at 22.8 per cent.
According to data from the 2010 census five per cent of the sultanate's population relied on unclassified water sources which is a cause of concern the study said as it could lead to health problems. Despite the expansion of the aflaj network this source is used only by 0.6 per cent of the population. Oman has two main water sources: conventional and non-conventional.
Conventional water resources include surface and underground water which constitutes 84 per cent of the resources while non-conventional sources include water from desalination plants and treated wastewater constituting 16 per cent of the total resources it said. The sultanate's annual average rainfall is estimated to be about 9.5bn m3 about 80 per cent of which evaporates.
Legal Disclaimer:
MENAFN provides the information “as is” without warranty of any kind. We do not accept any responsibility or liability for the accuracy, content, images, videos, licenses, completeness, legality, or reliability of the information contained in this article. If you have any complaints or copyright issues related to this article, kindly contact the provider above.