Muscat, Oman – 18 March 2019 – Wetskills Water Challenge Day 3
By Bart van der Ven (Waterschapsbedrijf Limburg & Nationaal Water Traineeship)
Today was an inspiring day, with both hard work “at the office” and interesting experiences in the field. The day started off with approximately one hour at the Sultan Qaboos University (SQU) in which we worked really hard on our preliminary action plans. Actually, people were so focussed on their work that we almost missed our coffee break. Luckily, we were kindly reminded:
“Hurry, hurry, hurry, go take your coffee break. Go go go!”
As was stated by Paul at the planetarium later “I am really impressed by what I’ve seen from SQU so far: in this program everything runs in time!”. All credits for this go to Ahmed!
After our speed-session at SQU we went to the Haya Wetlands. Haya is the largest institution in Oman for water treatment. And it does some amazing things with the effluent they produce as we’ve seen at the wetlands. The effluent they produce near Muscat is used to create 5 artificial areas with lakes and streams. These wetlands fulfil a number of functions: they help replenish aquifers, it functions as a CO2 sink, cools down the surrounding area and attracts a great number of birds and other forms of wildlife. It was wonderful to be in a beautiful green landscape created through good use of wastewater.
Afterwards we had lunch and went on the PDO-museum. The museum itself was playful and fun, it showed how alternative and sustainable energy sources can be u
sed. However, they do use this energy to pump up more oil, a fact they fail to mention.
They day ended with a dinner at Kathiyas sisters place. The food was simply amazing and the hosts among the greatest entertainers I’ve seen. It was simply hilarious!
