Kahramaa’s drinking water quality exceeds global standards

Doha: The drinking water quality of Qatar General Electricity and Water Corporation (Kahramaa) has exceeded the index of International Standards for Drinking-Water of World Health Organisation (WHO).

Kahramaa’s Water Quality Laboratory tested water samples from 14,000 points across the country in 2019. Kahramaa’s Laboratory successfully renewed its ISO 17025:2005 quality certificate, after passing the assessment required carried out by the Accreditation Council of American Association for Laboratory Accreditation (A2LA).

The production capacity of water in 2019 in Qatar reached 476.2 million gallons per day, and Kahramaa and Umm Al Houl Power signed an agreement to increase the desalination capacity by 61.5 million gallons per day, (equivalent to 280,000 cubic meters per day), according to an achievement report of Kahramaa issued at the end of 2019.

With the help of Water Security Mega Reservoirs Project, the water storage capacity of Qatar in 2019 was about 680 million gallons and is expected to reach its final capacity estimated at about 1,500 million gallons in the first quarter of 2020, covering storage needs until 2026, which enhances the water security of the country.

The strategic water storage to ensure water supply to all sectors and to meet the needs of water demand due to population growth. Kahramaa also rehabilitated five fresh underground drinking water fields which is equivalent to 328 wells to ensure water security in the country, especially in emergency situations.

Regarding the development of the water network, Kahramaa launched new water networks in 2019, with lengths of up to 340 km.The Corporation extended water distribution networks along a length of about 40 km and connected 3,845 new properties and 724 farms to the water distribution network. Kahramaa succeeded in reducing the real losses of water from the network to 4 percent of the total amount of water supplied and distributed by water networks.

The Department for District Cooling Services at Kahramaa has succeeded in developing cooling services using water, as the number of district cooling projects in Qatar reached 40 stations with a cooling capacity of nearly one million tonnes.

The desalinated water worth about QR250m was saved by the end of the year 2019 by switching to the use of treated water, and the total consumption of treated water in district cooling projects until 2019 is about 36 million M3 (cubic meters)

According to Kahramaa, the District Cooling System using water saves from 25 percent to 35 percent of total electricity demand in Qatar compared to the conventional cooling system. The system is expected to save energy used in electricity production and distribution and to reduce consumption of natural gas worth up to QR15bn by 2030.

Department for District Cooling Services works as a legislative and regulatory body for district cooling services in the country with the aim of enhancing district cooling services, providing desalinated water and using treated water in its place.

As for the technical performance of electricity transmission and distribution networks, the technical performance indicators for the networks of Kahramaa recorded high levels compared to global indicators in 2019. System minutes lost – transmission, 0.17 minutes and the cumulative rate decreased 8 percent in 2019 compared to 2018.