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Bahrain - A major upgrade to Bahrain’s largest wastewater treatment plant will be completed by January 2022.
The fourth and final phase of the BD138.1 million project at the Tubli Wastewater Treatment Plant has already started – and will include multiple treatment of sewage water for agriculture use, along with incinerating sludge and ensuring the remaining water disposed at the protected Tubli Bay is harmless and odourless.
Capacity
Works, Municipalities Affairs and Urban Planning Ministry’s sanitary engineering operation and maintenance director Shawqi Mandeel said the revamp will increase the plant’s capacity from 200,000 cubic metres per day to 400,000 cubic metres per day.
He revealed yesterday during the weekly majlis of the Capital Trustees Board that the plant was currently dealing with an overflow income of 330,000 cubic metres daily.
Mr Mandeel also said construction work on new facilities at the plant is costing BD77.9m, while maintenance and operational costs are around BD60.2m.
“The moment the new modernisation project will be ready by the end of January 2022, the ministry will start incinerating sludge and work to clean up the clutter covering the bay through safe hi-tech methods, which are currently under study,” said Mr Mandeel.
Work ongoing to modernise the plant
“Putting an end to sewage overflowing into the bay through expansion and new treatment methods, we are also looking to use our produced water for agricultural means so that the disposed materials will be minimal. We are also working to ensure it is odourless and harmless.
“The ministry is also working on new water channels to allow fresh circulation of water inside the bay affected by reclamation and narrow flow channels.”
Also present at the majlis, held at the board’s headquarters in Bilad Al Qadeem, were MPs, former municipal councillors, environmental activists and residents.
MPs last month unanimously approved a proposal for urgent measures to clean up and protect the bay.
Tubli Bay is rich with shrimp and rare birds and was declared a protected zone in 2006 by law after years of illegal land reclamation.
The bay’s size was originally 13.5km, but municipal officials said in 2017 that it had shrunk to around 9km as a result of unlicensed coastal development.
Works, Municipalities Affairs and Urban Planning Minister Essam Khalaf told MPs last month that the bay’s protection scheme would include the expansion project, digging new water channels and preparing the northern part for tourism projects.
Cleaning
The Supreme Council for Environment also told MPs it was keen on cleaning the bay and ensuring there was no trespassing on the protected zone or any harm to the environment.
The Capital Trustees Board has also requested an expansion to the southern water channels in Ma’ameer and under the Sitra Bridge to ensure better flow.
The scheme was approved at a Cabinet meeting in November and also includes 12 additional 70m waterways constructed at the water crossing located below Shaikh Jaber Al Ahmad Al Sabah Highway (Ma’ameer Crossing).
At present, this crossing only has six waterways, whose overall length does not exceed 23m.
A hydrodynamic study would also be conducted on the quality of water at Tubli Bay.
The plant expansion is being jointly funded by Kuwait and Saudi Arabia as part of the Gulf Development Programme.
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