The National Water Act, which was set as part of Qatar’s five-year national development strategy, will see the light of the day by year 2016.
The strategy has emphasised that the goal of the new water law is to develop an integrated system for water management through the unification of all regulations expected to fill gaps in the legal framework, taking into account the quality standards of desalinated water, groundwater and wastewater, as well as raising the efficiency of the network to lessen cost and environmental impacts.
The new strategy will set up a new legislation system for water to rationalise consumption, and stress quality standards for water use in homes with the collaboration of various government bodies including Kahramaa, Ashghal, and Cabinet Ministry, Ministry of Environment, Ministry of Economy, and Department of Standardisation and Specification.
There was a need for the implementation of the new water law because Qatar is considered one of the countries which top per capita water usage in the world, in addition water is scarce as precipitation is rare so Qatar depends on desalinated and ground water.
Water consumption in Qatar is very high, having tripled from 1996 to 2008 to 312 million cubic metres, and this strategy tries to provide clean water and improve quality standard.
Training and awareness courses on saving water will also be provided to citizens to achieve the state’s vision.
Ground water provides 36 percent of water consumption which is mostly used in agriculture which reaches about 230 million cubic metres. Recent statistics have shown Qatar’s ground water consumption has tripled.
It is also projected during the period from year 2011 to 2016 ground water levels will be low. The very minimal fee charged on farmers for using water has led to rise in consumption which in turn has resulted to scarcity of ground water.
The government is trying to lay down procedures to save the country’s ground water, solve the water crisis and improve water resources to spare the next generation from any crisis.
Studies on new and efficient ways of recycling sewage water for agricultural purposes are also being conducted as the country tries to recycle 24 percent of sewage for agriculture.
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