Middle East
The Hydrologic Observation Project in the Batinah Coast, Sultanate of Oman
(1982|1986)
Oman is a bit smaller than the size of JAPAN and has a population of about 2 million. The country has a very wide spectrum of landscapes and soils. Covering 300,000 square kilometers on the southeastern tip of the Arabian Peninsula, it is bordered on the north and west by the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia and on the southwest by Yemen. The coastline stretches 1,700 kilometers from the Strait of Hormuz, along the Gulf of Oman to the Arabian sea. The Project area is located along the north-eastern part of the Oman coast and lies on a fertile alluvial strip (the Batinah), adjacent to a mountain range (Jabal al-Akhdar) that rises to 3,000 meters, and vast stretches of desert. In the Project, involving 5 wadis of 6,000 square kilometers, the various necessary researches had been completed with the aim of establishing metrological and hydrologic network to manage the limited water resources.
Although heavy monsoon rains fall on the Project area from June to September, the climate in the hinterland is dry and hot with annual rainfall no more than 100 mm. However, downpours may be so violent that the rivers (wadis), which are usually dry, overflow their banks and sweep everything before them. Water is a major preoccupation for the Omani government. In March 1994, for example, the Ministry of Water Resources sounded the alarm about steeply rising consumption. The restrictions are not felt in Muscat, which is supplied by a sea-water desalination plant, but between May and August (when temperatures hit 43 [degrees] C in the shade) agriculture consumes 100 million cubic meters per month, i.e. 94 per cent of total consumption. According to official announcement, 80 per cent of the rainwater is lost to run-off into the sea, and 5 per cent to evaporation. This could lead being of negative water balance in the area and worrying because reserves of fossil water, so called because it dates from ancient times when there was more rain in the region, are not being replenished in today's arid climate. In particular several places of Batinah coast, the seawater intrusions is arising and resulting in the dying off date palms and the desertification of farms.
To prevent groundwater reserves from being exhausted, Oman Government is currently requested to adopt the strict regulation to manage irrigation wells and ban the illegal drilling without government permission. In addition, recharge dams have been built since 1985 to collect rainwater descending from the mountains. So far, five more have been built, and some fifty more dams are scheduled to be built in the future.
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