Qatar’s Public Works Authority (Ashghal) is planning to roll out massive wastewater treatment projects in a bid to increase the production of high-quality treated water from 183 million cu m to 366 million cu m over the next five years, said a report.

These include the Sewage Treatment Plant project in Al Thakhira, the fifth package of expansion works for the Doha West Sewage Treatment Plant project, the Doha North Sewage Treatment Plant project, and the second package of the expansion works for Industrial Area Sewage Treatment Plant project, reported The Gulf Times, citing a senior official.

This is in addition to the major Sewage Treatment Plant project in southern Doha, which will have an operational capacity of 500,000 cu m per day, and will be constructed as part of the Inner Doha Re-sewerage Implementation Strategy (Idris), stated Ashghal president Nasser bin Ali Al Mawlawi.

He was speaking at a workshop entitled “Successful Experiences in Wastewater Treatment and Reuse in the GCC” held in Doha on Tuesday.

Addressing the gathering, Al Mawlawi said during the last decade, Ashghal had increased its production of high-quality treated water from 55 million cu m in 2005 to 183 million cu m.

He said Ashghal had set design standards for treated water produced from main treatment plants. "These include multiple processing stages to reach advanced tertiary treatment levels by means of microfiltration membrane technologies, which have higher efficiency than sand filters," he noted.

This has been implemented in various plants: the West Doha plant (Al Sailiya), South Doha plant, Industrial Area plant, and the Doha North new treatment plant, the Ashghal chief said.

In addition to the use of treated wastewater in restricted and non-restricted irrigation and “green” spaces, Qatar was moving to expand the use of treated wastewater for cooling and construction purposes, he added.