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Oman Water and Power
The country's water resources are a key to its economic
future, and continued development will require much more
water
than has been available. Rainfall is so scant that crop
production is impossible without irrigation. Livestock
raising is
restricted to areas having a dependable supply of drinking
water
for animals. Any substantial expansion of agricultural
production
will therefore require developing new water sources.
Industrial
expansion, increased tourism, and an improved standard of
living
combine to increase the requirements for water.
In the 1990s, water sources include wells for village
water
supplies, the falaj system, and desalination
plants.
Although the Muscat metropolitan area, Salalah, and Raysut
are
supplied with adequate water distribution and sewerage
systems,
such systems remain underdeveloped in many rural areas.
In 1969 Oman had only one electric power generating
station,
which produced one megawatt of electricity for the Muscat
metropolitan area. Since then, electricity has been
introduced in
an increasing number of areas: Salahin in 1970; the island
of
Masirah in 1976; and Nazwah, As Sahm, and Ibri in 1978. In
1990
in the sultanate, 4,503 million kilowatt-hours were
produced in
comparison with 787 million kilowatt-hours in 1980. The
Muscat
metropolitan area represents 67.4 percent of the
sultanate's
electricity consumption, followed by the Al Batinah area
at 14.7
percent and Dhofar at 9.4 percent. The government's
diversification program and its plans to develop
infrastructure
across the country to balance economic development and to
correct
the regional disparities between the less developed south
and
interior and the more developed north require greater
attention
to water and power. Several large infrastructure projects
are
being considered in the Fourth Five-Year Development Plan:
a new
power station and grid network for the interior;
improvement in
Muscat's sewerage network; and construction of another
desalination plant, which was completed by 1992. However,
the
water problem requires greater attention to the management
of
existing installations.
Data as of January 1993
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