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The government is implementing a number of dam projects to prevent floods and augment the country’s water reserves. Srinivasan Iyer reports

Of all the gifts with which God has blessed us, water is the greatest. It must be cherished and husbanded. Every effort must continue to be made to develop this resource. If extravagance is forbidden by Islam, it is even more applicable to water. – An excerpt from the speech of H M Sultan Qaboos bin Said on November 18, 1991

It goes without saying that the sultanate is putting a lot of emphasis on harnessing its limited water resources. An integrated water resources management master plan chalked out a few years ago has identified the requirements of the people and investment in the water sector over the next 20 years. The study has taken into account the importance of irrigated agriculture and the need to identify new sources of potable water supply, including desalinated seawater. The plan also examines the need for institutional changes in the management of water supply, possible increase in the participation of the private sector and tariff charges to meet the cost of supplying water. A key component of that plan includes the construction of dams in various regions – right from Batinah to Sharqiyah and from Muscat to Salalah for a variety of purposes ranging from irrigation, flood control and drinking water supply.

Says Zahir Khalid al Suleimani, director general of Water Resources Assessment, Ministry of Regional Municipalities and Water Resources (MRMWR), "The ministry has already completed several important water projects and work is under way on implementing a few others. Construction has started on the Wadi Dayqah storage dam and is progressing rapidly. We expect the dam to be completed in early 2009."


Phase one of the project involves the main dam, saddle dam, auxiliary spillway and reservoir. The main dam will be constructed across the main channel of Wadi Dayqah. Once completed, the reservoir will be capable of storing 100mn cubic metres (m3) of water. Wadi Dayqah is known for its floods and the reservoir will reduce the effect of floods on downstream areas and prevent water from flowing into the sea.

This apart, the reservoir will provide all users with an assured water supply in the event of drought and will form a crucial element of the sultanate's strategic water reserves. The second phase of the project, which will commence upon completion of the dam, includes a water supply scheme for Muscat and Quriyat, involving the supply of 35mn m3 of water for irrigation and drinking. The main beneficiaries include the villages of Mazara, Hay al Ghaf and Daghmar. The Wadi Dayqah project has been designed to cope with a once-in-1,000-year flood event, which is significant given the damage caused by Cyclone Gonu last June.


As per MRMWR's plans, a dam is to come up in the Wadi Adei area but the government is having a relook at the project following the June floods to bolster its flood defences and prevent such disasters from being repeated. Says Suleimani, "Design work on the Wadi Adei project had started early last year. The main intention of the dam was to protect the commercial areas in Qurm from flooding. But following the June 2007 floods we decided to upgrade the project to cover Al Amerat area as well. The consultants have been asked to restudy and redesign the dam to incorporate the new developments." The aim is to regulate the large volume of water that flows through the wadi and its tributaries in the event of a major downpour. Last June, an estimated 95mn m3 of water flowed downstream through the wadi.

According to Suleimani, the project would involve the construction of more than one dam in Wadi Adei, and between three and seven smaller dams are planned upstream in Al Amerat and Madinat al Nahda. "The project is under evaluation but we will call tenders this year for construction. The project will be carried out in phases. It will take five years for the entire project to be completed."

The dam is crucial as a major commercial development in Qurm, being developed by Muriya, is likely to proceed only after completion of the project. Apart from the Wadi Adei project, a number of large flood protection systems will also be implemented in flood-prone areas such as Al Khoudh, Wadi Samayil, Fanja, Sur and some parts of the Batinah region. The MRMWR is planning to upgrade the Al Khoudh recharge dam and convert it into a flood protection dam. As part of this exercise, the height of the dam will be marginally increased to double its reservoir capacity. The dam's length will also be increased from the present 5.1km to more than 6.2km.

These improvements are designed not only to enhance the overall safety of the structure, but also to make it work as a full-fledged flood protection dam to protect Seeb and Ma’abelah areas from floods. The Tender Board is currently in the midst of selecting an engineering consultant to carry out a feasibility study and prepare a detailed design of the most economical and beneficial solution to protect the flood-prone areas. A similar plan is also envisaged for Wadi Samayil, which includes the development of one or more flood protection dams. The dams will be designed with a large reservoir capacity catering to a flood-frequency of a once-in-200-year event or more.
Plans for the Batinah region include at least seven dams in the major wadis. The consultants have been briefed to study the best solution to manage floods along the coast and prevent seawater from creeping into underground aquifers and polluting agricultural land. In the mountainous region of Jebel Akhdhar and Jebel Shams, the MRMWR has constructed 61 storage dams, whose benefits the people are reaping. "We plan to construct an additional 32 recharge dams in this region," informs Suleimani.

Down south, work on the RO27mn Salalah interceptor guard dam has already commenced and is due for completion in 2009. The city, over the last 60 years, has been subjected to a series of cyclones, with the last one in 2002 damaging property, infrastructure and agricultural land.

As per the design, the dam's catchment area will cover 150sqkm and the reservoir will take up 917 hectares. The benefits of the dam will be two-fold. One, it will protect the city from floods and two, the reservoir will enhance the water resources available to the city and also recharge the ground water.

The government's integrated national water plan involves the local community who will give their input on managing resources. It will also educate citizens on rational consumption of water and acquaint them with modern alternatives of irrigation, including utilisation of treated sewage water. Once the projects are up and running, it will literally have a trickle-down effect on the well-being of the people. Floods will be prevented, there will be ample drinking water supplies and water for cultivation. And finally, damage and destruction caused by events like Gonu could be a thing of the past.