Sunday, June 24, 2007

Gonu makes people thirsty

Times News Service

MUSCAT

Tropical Cyclone Gonu brought with it a deluge of water but ironically Muscat has been hit hard by a severe shortage of water.

Yes, it is ‘water, water everywhere, but not a drop to drink’ and even as the wadis and dams in and around Muscat are overflowing with water, the taps at home have run dry.

Sources in the water maintenance department of the Minister of Housing, Electricity and Water told the Times of Oman that it will take atleast another one day to resolve the problem.

Engineer Mohammed Al Araimi of the ministry said that the main reason for the shortage is the below normal production of water at the main desalination plant in Ghubra.

The water desalination plant which is gas-based did not receive sufficient quantity of gas because of the cyclonic storm and therefore the desalination production was affected.

Moreover, the official said that the ministry did not want to want to pump out the remaining water because they had to verify that the distribution system was intact by making sure that there was no pipeline burst in the network.

“We are checking all the points to ensure that there will be no leakage of the precious water anywhere. Hopefully everything should be alright by tomorrow evening (Saturday) or the day after (Sunday),” the official said.

Meanwhile, news of water shortage rapidly spread all over the capital area, forcing people to scurry to all the available hypermarkets, supermarkets and neighbourhood grocery stores in search of water.

People quickly scooped up the water available and those who were left out had to wait in long queues as the supermarkets began to ration out the water.

Even as the water stocks began to be exhausted, people turned towards anything that resembled water which included milk, juices, nectars and any other edible liquids.

Pressure also built on water bottling and water supplying companies to respond to frantic calls from thirsty customers.

Oman’s National Mineral Water Company Which supplies brands like Tanuf, Jabal Akhdar, Assaha and the 18.9 Salsabeel water bottles had to work overtime.

In another development, car washing shops were also shut down because of the shortage of water. This led car owners to drive down to wadis to clean up their cars of the muck and dirt, caused courtesy of Tropical Cyclone Gonu.

With the water crisis looming large, those people who hoped to enjoy an extended weekend holiday were literally left high and dry.

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