A Hyder Consulting official has drawn attention to the need to treat and re-use wastewater in Qatar as a way to conserve existing water resources.

Donald Macrae, project manager at Hyder Consulting Middle East, said with most of the groundwater utilised for agriculture, using treated wastewaster would ensure sustainability of Qatar’s agriculture.
Presenting his conclusions in a case study made by the company at the Enciro 2008 – Facing the Challenge convention in Melbourne, Australia, he said:  “Groundwater reserves are becoming exhausted by agriculture with 240 million cu m extracted per year and only 40 million cu m recharged. Furthermore, 99 per cent of the potable water in Qatar is provided by desalination plants. With a current abundance of oil and gas this is affordable but it may not be sustainable in the long term,” said Macrae.
Macrae explained the alarming scarcity of water in Qatar, a country with low annual rainfall, rising population and depleted groundwater reserves. The Hyder Consulting study showed how upgrading the Qatari capital’s sewage treatment works made it safe to use the treated wastewater for crop growing and hence offset the country’s potential water crisis.
“About 80 per cent of Qatar’s population lives in the capital city of Doha which has an extensive sewerage system that is being expanded continuously to try and keep pace with development. It is estimated that 89 million cu m of wastewater was generated last year and this figure grew at an average rate of six per cent over the past three years,” said Macrae.
“Treating and reusing wastewater generated by this ever-growing population would help save 100 per cent of potable water and hence sustain the Qatari community.”
Hyder Consulting has been operating in Qatar for 45 years working as a consultant to the Public Works Authority (PWA). The consultancy has been responsible for the design of all of the large sewage treatment works and much of the sewerage and TSE network in the country.