File photo of Kahramaa water pumps used for representation
Doha, Qatar: Qatar General Electricity and Water Corporation (Kahramaa) has adopted the latest technologies for detecting water leakages in transmission pipelines which helped reduce water losses to 18 percent, said a top official.
“One of the major achievements of the water sector of Kahramaa in 2023 is reducing water losses in the supply network by unitizing the latest technologies such as smart ball and helium gas for detecting underground invisible leakages,” said Head of the Water Control Center at Kahramaa Eng Abdulaziz Muhammad Al Qatabri.
Speaking to Qatar TV recently, he said that the new technologies helped increase the performance and efficiency of the network and reduced water losses compared to the previous years.
“This year the real loss of water reached less than 18 percent which is an acceptable rate compared to the global average,” said Al Qatabri adding that the efforts are continuing to cut the water losses further in coming years.
He said that the strategic Water Security Mega Reservoirs played a key role in increasing the water reserve of Qatar by over 2,400 million gallons. “It also helped to transfer the water from the north part of the country to the south and vice versa and allow conducting routine maintenance of desalination plants,” said Al Qatabri.
He said that Water Security Mega Reservoirs receive water from desalination plants and then pump it to secondary water tanks to distribute to consumers. “The reservoirs, operating remotely, are designed in a way to make expansions as per future demand,” said Al Qatabri.
He said that the water production of Qatar reached 540 million gallons a day and the highest water demand was recorded at 420 million gallons a day this summer making a surplus over 25 percent.
“The water surplus will be used to meet the demand of the growing population and in emergencies,” said Al Qatabri. He said that Kahramaa is keen to provide safe drinking water following global health specifications with proper testing and strict monitoring.
“The control room is monitoring the water quality round-the-clock through sensors installed at desalination plants, pumping stations and reservoirs,” said Al Qatabri. He said that water samples are also taken by the Kahramaa laboratory equipped with modern devices for testing the quality of water.
“The Ministry of Health also takes samples from Kharamaa water networks to ensure the safety and quality of the water. Kahramaa is providing high-quality portable water to consumers which is not less than any bottled water available in the market,” said Al Qatabri.
He said that consumers are required only to keep their home water tanks clean. “Moreover, Kahramaa water is desalinated not treated which makes it free from any possible contamination.”
To a question about the water demand in Qatar, he said that demand for water increases year-by-year as the highest demand reached 420 million gallons in a day in summer 2023. “The plans are afoot, and studies conducted to increase the water production to meet the demand of the growing population,” said Al Qatabri.
Speaking about the future plan of Kahramaa’s water sector, he said: “We plan to build a new desalination plant with a capacity of 100 million gallons by using reverse osmosis technology and smart water transmission networks.”
