in the industrial and infrastructure sector
Abstract
In most parts of the Arab countries, the limited resources of water pose adverse constraints to both the social and economic development, while also threatening the people’s livelihood. The available surface water keeps on declining, and the ground water over-pumping that goes beyond the natural recharge rates has continued to cause great negative impact in the lowering of water table. Over-pumping of ground water also increases ground water salinity, ground water depletion, and ecological degradation (SCENR 5). The outcome prompted the Qatar government to start regulating its water resources as a measure of enhancing the good use of water. As a major concern, it implies that an immediate action needs to be taken. However, there is also the need for consistent research to provide adequate reflection on the problem at hand the possible solution. The paper entirely focuses on the regulation of wastewater across the world, in Qatar, and its implications in both industrials and infrastructure sector.
Introduction about laws and regulation world
Before the 1960s, environmental law was not in existence as a form of discrete domestic and international legal category. The modern form of environmental protection roots back to the nineteenth century when there were public health and resource conservation laws together with the private legal actions for pollution damage. Before the late stages of the 19th and twentieth century, there was very little appreciation regarding the idea that the ecosystem, water, and air masses were forms of geographical units that need to be the subject of special legal protection. The science-based ideology comes up with the idea that the biosphere was entirely a fragile system that was also vulnerable to many forms of human-induced impairment, which only became widespread at the end of World War II. It is at this time that the idea of worldwide environmental laws started gaining wide acceptance across the world. In the late 1960s, the legal protection of air, water, soil, and ecosystem in the form of wetlands and forests emerged in countries like USA, Europe, Australia, and New Zealand. Since that time, environmental protection has emerged to become an important element that governs the domestic legal systems of all developed countries and majority of the developing ones. It followed in the 1980s, when the environmental law ended up becoming an important and evolving component of the international law (Tarlock 2).
In the State of Qatar, the principle of the environmental institution is under the jurisdiction of Supreme Council of Environment and Natural Resources (SCENR), with the authority established under Law no.11 (2000). The same authority was previously known as the Environmental Department, serving as part of the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Agriculture (MMAA). The MMAA was initially established as a result of Law no. 13 (1994), replacing the Environmental Protection Committee that was already established by the Law no. 4 (1981). The SCENR carries with it the responsibility for ensuring maximum environmental protection and the conservation of endangered species and the protection of their habitats. This was subject to achieve partly by the implementation and enforcement of the environmental policies, subject to develop in the constitution by the aid of Administrative Authorities (Qatalum EIA Report 1).
On top of the SCENR, many other individual city authorities have been able to set up in Qatar. The MIC Authority was subject to establish in 1996, by the Qatar Petroleum, to serve as the single point authority for all facilities in the Mesaieed Industrial Area. As part of its role, the MIC Authority was mandated with the responsibility of ensuring allocation of land and provision of the common facilities wherever feasible. Through the SCENR, the State of Qatar, therefore, enforces a significant proportion of national environmental laws, regulation and standards. Some of these laws are as follows;
Law by Decree No. 30 of the Year 2002. It is the law responsible for Promulgating the Environmental Protection Law (2003).
On April 17, 2005, there was the enactment of Executive By-Law for the Environmental Protection Law No. 11 of 2000 and the Law No. 30 of 2002.
The decision of Council Members of the Year 1998 was able to establish a permanent Emergency Committee.
Finally, the law creating the permanent Committee responsible for the Protection of the Marine Environment (1981) was formed.
Deep look to regulations on wastewater, and the important elements/parameters
Environmental laws and regulation for wastewater in Qatar
Water is an integral part of three pillars of sustainable development, namely, economic, social, and environmental. Water obviously relates to the issue of social development basing on its impact on health. Without safe drinking water, the human beings, animals, and plants cannot survive. Water quality is thus a critical element because water-related diseases remain to be among the most common causes of illnesses and deaths across the world. Having good sanitation and hygienic practices could serve a significant purpose of reducing the threat of encountering many serious diseases. Beyond meeting the basic needs of humans, water also contributes to sustainable development initiatives in many other means. Water remains to be a necessity for agriculture and many other industrial processes. Some parts of the world depend on water as their source of energy, and many other countries use water as their integral part of the transportation system. Freshwater ecosystems also serve the crucial role of conserving the biodiversity and reduction of risks that are water-relates and other natural disasters. It is the concern to meet and avoid such issues that led to the establishment environmental laws for regulating wastewater in Qatar.
The SCENR’s water quality criteria have been subject to develop as a measure towards minimizing the adverse impacts to the soil, groundwater and water quality, and similarly, for the protection of marine life and water supply. The Qatari Executive By-Law thus includes some water quality related standards that relates to wastewater management (Deakin 8). The Executive By-Laws relating to wastewater management includes;
The standards are stipulating discharge of the industrial effluents to the sewers and other water bodies.
The standards stipulating drainage of liquid waste to the public sewage works for treatment.
The standards for treating effluents in sanitary wastewater, and
Those standards that stipulate the characteristics of drinking water or properties
Checklist for sewage treatment plant is as follows (onshore)
Treated effluent
For offshore sewage treatment plant, they are required to do their installations in a manner to comminute effluent. Free residual chlorine (not mandatory) maximum limit of 1.0 mg/l.
Checklist for process wastewater in a petroleum refinery is as follows;
*Total metals include lead, mercury, nickel, copper, vanadium, beryllium, and zinc.
Checklist for process wastewater in a petrochemical plant is as follows;
*The emissions of VOCs (including benzene) from each vent needs to be less than 10 kg/day.
2.2 Environmental laws and regulation for wastewater in Dubai
The United Arab Emirates entirely relies on three main sources of water, namely; groundwater desalinated water and treated wastewater. Specifically, Dubai depends on seawater as its main source of fresh water. Regarding treated wastewater, UAE has been able to adopt the approach of reusing treated wastewater in landscaping, in irrigation of gardens, in green spaces, reforestation of tress, especially in those areas surrounding complexes. The purpose of wastewater reuse is aimed at relieving pressure on the other limited water resources. The UAE currently has an approximate of some 79 medium and large treatment plants. In 2012 alone, the treated wastewater produced was estimated to be about 584 million cubic meters, accounting for 14% of total water resources in the entire UAE (United Arab Emirates Ministry of Environment & Water 28).
Dubai has strict environmental and public health requirements for use and treatment of wastewater, particularly in irrigation. For protecting public health, the wastewater treatment station needs to meet the standard limits for the treated wastewater as issued by the Dubai Municipality (Environmental Control Section 2). Treated wastewater needs to be at any point to be within the limits of the Dubai Municipality, which starts from the inlet point and extending to the outlet point of irrigation network that includes both the governmental and private treatment facility stations. The Environmental Control Section in cooperation with Dubai Central Laboratory conducts periodical monitoring for the green spaces irrigates by the treated wastewater in every six months. It does this by collecting and analyzing samples of irrigated grasses in various periods upon the completion of irrigation processes (Well Study 13).
The concerned parties always need to ensure that it protects the public from exposure to irrigation water by treating wastewater, as a measure of protecting people from any bacterial or fungal pollutants, applying especially for the pathogenic type. Irrigation process also needs to be compatible with the water-holding capacity of the soil, the types of plants, the roots depth as measures of reducing water consumption and avoiding soil population and soil saltiness. Dubai also has the public health environmental requirements for the thermal treatment of sludge in agriculture. The produced thermal treated sludge produced by the treatment facility needs to meet the minimally acceptable limits. Additionally, thermally treated sludge needs to be under constant monitoring as a measure of ensuring that it lies within the range of Dubai Municipality acceptable limits through the collection and analyzing of samples. Finally, Dubai Municipality Acceptable limits need to be followed by the Administration Legislation (30) of 2008, for both restricted and unrestricted irrigation.
The table below provides a summary of Dubai Municipality Acceptable limits of Treated Wastewater for Restricted and Unrestricted Irrigation
Source: Environmental Control Section (Annex 1)
Comparison between Qatar and Dubai standards
Looking at the above tables, there are many similarities between regulation standards of Dubai and Qatar, with minimal differences occurring between them. For example, Qatar’s limit for lead (Pb) release to the environment is 0.1mg/l, which is similar to Dubai 0.1mg/l for unrestricted irrigation and 0.2mg/l for restricted irrigation. Another example of similarity in standards is evident through the acceptable pH levels, which is 6-9mg/l in Qatar and 6-7mg/l for unregistered irrigation in Dubai and 6-8mg/l for registered irrigation. Another similarity is evident through the total suspended solids (TSS) levels, whereby the allowed TSS level in Qatar is 30mg/l and 30mg/l in Dubai for registered irrigation. However, there are also some evident differences in the regulation standards for the allowable chemical levels. For example, Qatar’s limit for oil & grease is 10mg/l, but different in Dubai, which is 0.5mg/l. Another difference is evident through the dissolved oxygen level, which is 2mg/l in Qatar and 4-5mg/l in Dubai for unregistered irrigation and 3mg/l for registered irrigation. Entirely, one can note that environmental standards are a priority for both states irrespective of the similarities and differences in standards.
Analysis between Qatar and Dubai
Strengths
Both conventional and non-conventional wastewater treatment technologies have their related advantages, which applies to both Qatar and Dubai.
In Qatar, the first strength of wastewater regulation is that the process involves low capital costs, with higher benefits. The amount that the country invests on wastewater treatment depends on the need and demand of reusable wastewater. Qatar currently employs the use of state of the art waste treatment technologies that enables the state to treat most of the collected wastewater. On its way towards achieving many advances as detailed in the Qatar National Vision 2030, Qatar has been able to build a solid foundation that embarks on National Development Strategy 2011-2016. The rapid groups experienced in the 2000s, making it the fastest in the world, gave Qatar an added advantage of having the highest per capita GDPs. The high savings, both from the private to the public sectors has been subject to reflect through the substantial domestic investment and the sizeable accumulation of the foreign assets (Abid and Mohammed pdf).
The rapid developments in Qatar’s financial sector accompanied with fast expanding banking, and equity markets provide the state with an added advantage of serving the needs of its large and more complex economy. As another added advantage to the aspect of wastewater management, Qatar gas’ Company is aiming to minimize water discharge and hence adopt the best industry practices that encourage sustainable water use and reuse. There are also current alignments in place with the direction from the Qatar Ministry of Environment into eliminating discharge to the sea. The outcome will provide Qatar with added supply of safe water for both domestic, commercial, aquatic, irrigation, and many other utilizable means.
Shifting focus to Dubai, it is apparent that Dubai of recent has been experiencing growing trade and tourism, which has helped the nation to become one among the top five fastest growing cities in the world. Currently, Dubai stands fifth-highest performing metropolitan economy in the world. The sanitation program in Dubai currently involves both planning and the management of Dubai’s waste and its sewerage management infrastructure. As part of its advantage, Dubai Municipality maintains two main sanitation plants, one located in Al Awir and another located at Jebel Ali. Dubai also has many other smaller sewerage treatment plants in the entire emirate operating under severe and specific districts or neighborhoods.
Dubai’s main water treatment plant, Al Awir Plant, has been able to report a significant expansion in the recent years. In response to the demand for water and sanitation, the UAE enjoys the advantage of the political will it is receiving in favor towards the reformation of the water sector. Reformation in Dubai’s wastewater treatment plants involves major investments that help in improving effectiveness and the distribution network to help boost the capacity of alternative water sources in the nation. As another added advantage, the Ajman Wastewater Treatment Plant is also set for a major expansion that will boost its production by up to 50 percent upon completion. Such expansions will boost Dubai’s water supply to ensure that there is minimal wastage of water resources.
Weaknesses
Despite the advantages that these two states enjoy from their wastewater management plans, there are also related weaknesses that both of them encounter. The fist constraint facing wastewater reuse in Qatar is the lack of political commitment that fully supports the wastewater treatment and reuse. Unlike Dubai, the Qatar policy and political factors do not show full commitment to enhancing the program of wastewater reuse. For the program to succeed, there is a need to have greater devotion from government and political sources to aid at restricting firms into obeying the laws as provided by the environmental regulating bodies (State of Qatar 6).
On the contrary, Dubai enjoys political and government backing on its initiatives for promoting wastewater reuse. However, there are also some factors derailing efforts of wastewater reuse in Dubai. In the past, Dubai has been experiencing problems with its sewerage capacity and connectivity. The problem emerged following the economic boom back in 2000 when the city’s growth meant that the state was stretching on its existing sewage treatment infrastructure to the maximum limits. Despite this setback, the state has been working closely with Dubai Municipality towards ensuring that it gets back to the pace of recording significant success in wastewater reuse (Redouane 114).
• Opportunities
Regulation of wastewater world has many opportunities for the nations that support such initiatives. The first opportunity from wastewater regulation is that it leads to waste reduction. Through treatment of wastewater, there will be a significant reduction of waste released to the environment, which will eventually help at improving the environment’s health. By doing so, there will be an added opportunity for the government to reduce the health risks associated with the pollution of the environment. The initiative also adds comes with another opportunity-reducing water loss mostly lost through water pollution. Wastewater treatment also helps in reducing the amount of money that the state spends on the country’s environmental rehabilitation projects.
The second opportunity that would result from wastewater regulation policies is the possibility of energy production. The sludge collected at the time of treatment process undergoes treatment by itself as it contains a large amount of biodegradable material. This material is thus subject to treat with anaerobic bacteria through a special fully enclosed digester and then heated to 35 degrees Celsius, which is an area of which these aerobic microorganisms thrives without the presence of oxygen. The gas that is produced in this anaerobic process has a large content of methane, which can be harvested followed by burning to generate electricity. It is an opportunity that the state may utilize from the process of wastewater management and hence generate electricity from the process. The state may utilize this energy source into powering the wastewater treatment plants and similarly making them self-sustainable.
There is a possibility of wastewater reuse process to produces excessive energy. In case of such circumstances occur, the state may go ahead to transfer the excess energy produced into its national grid. In the end, there would be a possibility of lowering the reliance on states’ reliance on non-renewable energy sources. For example, the system that is in use within the Middle East can be found at al-Samra wastewater treatment plant, located in Jordan. The government officials of this state report that the plant produces a lump sum of 40% of energy by the process of burning methane as the product of treatment process. Finally, there is also a possible opportunity for fertilizer production as an outcome of the state engaging in wastewater reuse initiatives. This is possible to achieve by dying any biodegradable material remaining from the dried lagoons and later turned into natural fertilizer. In the end, the resulting natural fertilizer can be in use in the agriculture sector, hence essential to increasing crop yields. In the end, the outcome will be an opportunity as the state decreases on the use of chemical fertilizers that end up polluting the surrounding marine and surface ecosystems.
4. Case study of reuse and recycle in industrial water in Qatar – VRX Sulfur Plant (SP)
The VRX Sulfur Plant (SP) engages in washdown water recycling and reuse. The washdown water is subject to generate in SP at the rate of approximately 70-80 m3/day. Washdown water is also routed to the SP HDPE lined setting basin. Currently, the SP washdown water is subject to dispose of at the SP Emergency Sulphur Blocking Facility retention ditch as per the CTO requirement following the sampling analysis. As part of its compliance with the regulation requirements, the VRX disposes all of its washdown water at sulphur blocking facility retention ditches with absolutely no discharge to the sea. As another regulation requirement, the VRX ensures that it monitors its washdown water quality on the per batch basis, which is part of the parameter described by the CTO.
As the action plan, the SP Washdown Water Recycling and Reuse were able to conduct the FEED Techno-Economic Study completed in September 2015, regarding the treatment and reuse of washroom water as desalinated and service water. In the Sp Washdown Water Recycling and Reuse Techno-Economist Study, there are some options available in the recycling process. Option A is evaporation, which is at a medium level regarding complexity and maintenance issues. Option B is demineralization, which is at the medium level when compared to technical complexity and maintenance issues. Option C is reverse osmosis, which is at a high level regarding technical complexity and maintenance issues. The result of using technical complexity and maintenance issues option saw the outcome as low-use of vacuum trucks for transferring washdown water.
Another option available for washdown recycling and reuse washdown is the use of electric power consumption, which is at the medium level when option A evaporation procedure is in use (Qatalum EIA Report 7). Electric power consumption is also as at medium level when compared to option B demineralization. Similarly, electric power consumption is at the medium level when compared to option B of demineralization. There is no recorded outcome when electric power consumption is subject to compare to the base case disposal at the SP emergency sulphur blocking facility. Regarding consumption usage, the washdown water-recycling project compares at a medium with capacity with option A of evaporation. Similarly, electric power consumption compares at a medium capacity with option B of demineralization. Chemical usage compares as at high level when compared to option C of reverse osmosis. Finally, chemical usage is at a minimal level when compared to base case disposal at the SP emergency sulphur blocking facility.
The next plan forward is that VRX proposes that the VRX should continue with the washdown water disposal at the SP Emergency Sulphur Blocking facility retention ditch. Another alternative is that VRX needs to review alternative disposal options, such as using washdown water for the irrigation purposes at the VRX premises. Finally, VRX needs to review the use of its washdown water for the irrigation purposes in other locations, which also includes RLC or the Al-Khor. Entirely, the VRX project is at its level regarding implementing the wastewater regulations. However, there is a need for the company to update on its wastewater treatment option and consider updating its treatment procedures for the wastewater treatment options to meet the standard sea regulations.
Conclusion
Through the entire study, it is apparent that wastewater treatment has its advantages and disadvantages. However, it is apparent that wastewater treatment is the best option for the Arab World States to implement as part of their strategy of cutting excessive depletion of natural water resources. It is also advisable for all refinery industries to implement the ZLD technology as part of the process of meeting the irradiation standards of the sea. Finally, states also need to work closely with wastewater regulation and environmental bodies as part of the process of preventing excessive depletion of natural fresh water sources.
Works Cited
Abid Yahya Khalid and Elshamoud H. Mohamed. “Wastewater management in Qatar.” The Qatar General Electricity & Water Corporation (KAHRAMAA).pdf
Deakin Colin. “Process Engineer” Water Arabia., 2011.pdf
Environmental Control Section (ECS). “Environment Department.” Technical Guide: Environmental Regulations for the Reuse of Treated Wastewater for Irrigation & Thermal Treated Sludge for Agricultural Purposes.pdf
Qatalum EIA Report. Legal Framework & Environmental Protection Criteria. ATKINS, Print.
Redouane Choukr-Allah. “Wastewater Treatment and Reuse.” Chapter 7; Arab environment: water.pdf
SCENR. “Qatar Standards.” 2003.pdf
Tarlok A. Dan. “History of Environmental Law.” Environmental Laws and their Enforcements.pdf
United Arab Emirates Ministry of Environment & Water. “State of Environment Report” United Arab Emirates. 2025.pdf
Well Study. “Guidelines for wastewater reuse in agriculture and aquaculture: recommended revisions based on new research evidence.” 2000.pdf.
