As many as 90 regional experts and government officials looked at ways to improve Oman’s drainage network and prevent floods across the sultanate at a conference held in Muscat earlier this month, local press reports said.

The Drainage Rehabilitation & Flood Control Conference was held on September 1 and 2 at the Golden Tulip Seeb and brought together stakeholders to “exchange experiences, demonstrate potential, look at ways to improve drainage modelling and set the stage for future developments in the sultanate”, according to the event’s organiser Global Exhibitions & Conferences.

The conference heard case studies and presentations from Said Al Habsi, director general of water resources at the Ministry of Regional Municipalities and Water Resources (MRMWR); Zuhair Al Lawati from the Muttrah Municipal Council; Said Al Asmi, Haya Water’s general manager – projects; Dr Aisha Al Quraishi,  an advisor at the MRMWR’s directorate general of water resources assessment; Mahmoud Al Soud, Haya Water’s general manager of operations and maintenance; Amr El Agroudy, an advisor on stormwater drainage at the Abu Dhabi Municipality; and Loay Ghazaleh, an advisor to the undersecretary from the Ministry of Works in Bahrain.

Delegates also heard case studies and presentations from the Oman Water Society, Egyptian National Committee on Irrigation and Drainage, Mott MacDonald, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (Unesco), the Iranian National Committee on Irrigation and Drainage, Renardet, the American Society of Safety Engineering, and the Occupational Safety and Health Oman Society.

Haya Water’s Al Soud offered an overview of the company’s existing infrastructure, the challenges it faces, and its strategy for system restoration, the Oman Daily Observer reported.

He said Haya Water monitors sewerage networks on a continuous basis using CCTV technology and, based on their condition, identifies and undertakes restoration or replacement of pipelines or entire networks.

The newspaper also quoted Al Soud hailing the event as a “good initiative that brought all the stakeholders concerned with storm water drainage restoration and flood control together to exchange information”.

The second edition of the conference will be held from September 7 to 8, 2015 in Muscat.