President of Ashghal H E Dr. Eng. Saad bin Ahmed Al Muhannadi (right) with other officials during the symposium.
Doha, Qatar: The Public Works Authority (Ashghal), in cooperation with the Gulf Water Sciences and Technology Association (WSTA) and the Secretariat General of the GCC, held a symposium on “The Problem of Groundwater Level Rise in Urban Areas in GCC countries.”
The symposium aimed to come up with policies and solutions to deal with the issue and raise them to decision-makers in the GCC countries.
The symposium in addition to sharing scientific and applied knowledge while building the capacity of specialists in the fields of urban planning, hydrology, hydrogeology, engineering, environment, and other fields relevant to the problem of groundwater level rise in urban areas in the GCC countries, was attended by President of Ashghal Dr. Eng Saad bin Ahmed Al Muhannadi, and a number of officials and academics interested in this field from Qatar and GCC countries.
On this occasion, Eng Yousef Al Emadi, Projects Affairs Director at ‘Ashghal’, said: “Through this cooperation, we look forward to discovering innovative, effective and sustainable technological solutions to control the problem of groundwater level rise in urban areas in the GCC to reduce its negative impact on the construction process, which in turn raises costs and affects the quality of projects and people’s lives.
“At Ashghal, we are keen to make use of the groundwater and to implement sustainable solutions, including water use after ensuring its quality in some of the projects of the Authority, through sand washing that is used in projects and dust control at work sites,” he added.
Eng Abdulrahman Al Mahmoud, President of WSTA, said that the symposium was aimed at exploring the most significant problems that occur in our region because of the rapid urban developments and the population growth, especially in major cities. These issues have made it challenging to harmonise the requirements of development and the large projects while preserving the infrastructure, as well as face the various impacts on the population and the surrounding environment.
He added that it was crucial for the competent authorities to follow scientific research, to gain insight into the causes of the phenomenon that has arisen in several cities in our Gulf countries and look for the scientific and practical solutions to address the problem.
Accordingly, in view of the importance of this issue, the Public Works Authority ‘Ashghal’ in Qatar and the Gulf Water Sciences and Technology Association (WSTA) agreed to hold the symposium in the presence of several experts and specialists to study the problem and the solutions applied and to identify the best remedies.
From his side, Prof Dr. Waleed Zubari, Chairman of the Scientific Affairs and Training Committee at WSTA, Professor of the Water Resources at the Arabian Gulf University said that there is a crucial need to find sustainable solutions to combat and control groundwater level rise.
Cooperative efforts between experts from different specialisations and stakeholders of different sectors is required to remedy this problem. Therefore, this symposium seeks to highlight this critical issue, study its causes and consequences, and discover practical and applicable solutions,” he said.
