DOHA: Experts from Qatar’s public and private sector discussed the threat of rising water table to major infrastructure projects. Hosted at Grand Hyatt Doha Hotel by Qatar Environment & Energy Research Institute (QEERI), Uniquip-Hoelscher and Hyder Constulting/Arcadis, the conference featured prominent speakers such as Minister of Environment H E Ahmad Amer Mohamed Al Hemaidi, German Ambassador to Qatar Hans-UdoMuzel, and President’s Advisor for Water Affairs, Qatar General Electricity & Water Corporation — Kahramaa Eng Ali Saif Al Malki.
The Environment Minister said it is a necessity to clean water at construction sites that carry dangerous biological and technical contaminants.
“To keep the job sites dry, safe and operating became a serious challenge”, the Minister said. “Construction sites must be dewatered. In addition to dewatering the site, contractors in Qatar are obliged to make sure that dangerous biological contaminants, toxic chemicals and other materials from the construction process do not pollute the community’s groundwater or reach the sea.”
“The government is fully aware of the issue that water is scarce and therefore very valuable if not the most valuable resource”, the Minister said.
He added that “traditional, old approaches to just pumping, straining sediments and treating construction water at a low level are simply not enough to avoid health risks and to meet environmental standards of modern, large-scale infrastructure projects. It is a necessity to use state-of-the art solutions to technically treat construction water, which then might be reused.”
Hans-UdoMuzel appreciated the efforts of Qatar to actively approach the problem of polluted construction water.
The Peninsula
