As part of the efforts made to conserve and reuse water resources in a sustainable way that preserves the environment and optimizes investment for infrastructure facilities in the country, the Ministry of Municipality, represented by the Infrastructure Planning Department in the Urban Planning Sector, and Qatar University, represented by the Chemical Engineering Department at the College of Engineering, completed a project studying the effects of wastewater discharge from district cooling plants on discharge to municipal wastewater Treatment Plant. It recommended that the district cooling plants be discharged using sewage networks to be treated within sewage treatment plants.

The cooling water blowdown (CWBD) is considered as a wastewater stream discharged from cooling towers into the marine environment, and sewage treatment plants or reused in applications such as irrigation of farms, green spaces, and public parks.

On the other hand, the Agricultural Research Department of the Ministry of Municipality
adopted a unique technology for cultivating the Salicornia europaea plant at the Vegetables and Horticulture Research Station in Al-Utouriya by using the hydroponic system of return water resulting from groundwater desalination.

Salicornia is characterized by its ability to adapt and grow in difficult environments, which contributes to solving a major environmental problem through the use of return water resulting from the groundwater desalination process, which represents about 60 percent of the total treated water. The water’s salinity ranges from 8 to 20 thousand parts per million and is used to grow this multi-beneficial plant.

Salicornia cultivation is one of the department’s promising strategic projects. The plant was cultivated for the second year in a row and comes within the interest of studying and benefiting from most of the wild plants in Qatar to contribute to achieving food security and environmental sustainability of genetic resources; noting that Salicornia is characterized by its ability to
adapt and grow in difficult environments, and it is a plant of high economic value and is exploited in many agricultural and food uses. Salicornia is characterized by its ability to produce large amounts of protein, amounting to more than 10 percent of the plant’s dry weight. The green agriculture of Salicornia represents a promising future to contribute to achieving environmental sustainability and food security.

As part of the Ministrys efforts to rationalize irrigation water, the Public Parks Department operates and manages irrigation in all new parks and most streets in the State of Qatar via central wireless control, using a set of sensors deployed in irrigation sites. All construction contractors have been obligated to adhere to a set of specifications that ensures full monitoring and control on-site.

Through the central control center, irrigation is managed wirelessly. Irrigation programs are created according to each plant type, and water quantities are controlled by reading the flow meter. The cont
rol center can be accessed via the Internet from anywhere in the world, as well as receive mobile messages from the control center when alarms occur, and the ability to monitor tank levels in parks through water level measuring sensors.

Source: Qatar News Agency