Bahrain receives groundwater by lateral under-flow from the Dammam aquifer, which is part of an extensive regional aquifer system. Excessive extraction from this aquifer has led to an increased saline content, through water coming from adjacent brackish and saline water sources.Bahrain Water Report Q4 2010
Business Monitor International
More than half of the country’s water is provided by the Hidd independent water and power plant (IWPP), with just 15% of consumption provided by ground water in 2008. Desalinated water now accounts for more than 80% of Bahrain’s water provision, a proportion that is likely to increase over time. Desalinated water capacity has increased significantly since 2009 with the commissioning of the third phase of the Hidd Power Company desalination plant, which has raised output to 90mn gallons a day (g/d) – an increase of 60mn g/d over its previous capacity.
The Electricity and Water Authority (EWA) is the agency responsible for the production and supply of power and water in Bahrain, working as an independent arm of the state. It has successfully pushed for the development of IWPPs, via Hidd phase three and now the award of the al Dur IWPP contract. The kingdom has also drafted a national policy for wastewater, including reuse of treated sewage effluence. A major boost to wastewater treatment capacity will come with the development of the Muharraq wastewater plant, which will have a 100,000-150,000m3 per day (m3/d) capacity. EWA has also made improvements in increasing the coverage of sanitation and sewage connection to 88% of the island’s population and is on target to reach full coverage by 2015.
EWA is looking to award the consultancy contract for a water transmission development scheme before end-2010, which will add 165km of new pipelines that will hold an extra 48mn g/d of water produced from al-Dur IWPP. The government is now looking to ramp up private-led development of Bahrain’s water sector, making the investment climate even more business-friendly.
The Muharraq sewage treatment plant is the first major fruit of the country’s privatisation effort and to ensure its success, the government has guaranteed effluent supplies and will take all the treated water. Korea’s Samsung Engineer was named preferred bidder on the project in Q310.
The kingdom’s progress in bringing on stream new desalination capacity will enable it to keep a handle on water demand over the forecast period. Though groundwater output will be well down on its 2010 peak of 10.5bn gallons over the next four years, we envisage a small increase in production that will keep its contribution to overall water supplies level at just over 10%.
