The Sustainabilist | RAMADAN
INTERVIEW
The Source of All Life Gurvan Dersel, General Manager at Qatra Water Solutions, spoke with The Sustainabilist about how the water system has been impacted by COVID-19 and Qatra’s continued operations to safeguard people and the environment
N
ow more than ever, with the COVID-19 epidemic and the holy month of Ramadan, is the time to reflect on the scarcity of the resources we use on a daily basis. How is Qatra assisting in safeguarding the environment and its precious resources? With the lockdown in full effect, the majority of people are remaining in the safety of their homes. This generates a large consumption of water and subsequently results in a lot more wastewater. Wastewater needs to be 16
treated as releasing it would be a health hazard and it would also greatly impact the environment. Qatra Water Solutions works around the clock to clean and recycle wastewater so it can safely be returned to the environment. During this period, Qatra is facing an unprecedent demand for wastewater treatment from all over the Emirate of Sharjah. There has been an increase of up to 20% in the flow of wastewater as compared to the average, putting our wastewater treatment assets under pressure. However, our team is still hard at work to deliver.
What is Qatra mission and what strategy has been implemented to achieve it? Our mission is to provide Sharjah with an efficient and integrated wastewater and water reuse cycle. Qatra is an essential link between public health and the necessity for sustainable urban development. To implement this, we focus on developing facilities to reuse the treated water for applications other than the traditional landscaping. Improving our assets is key to us. We have successfully conducted a pilot to control the plant operations using artificial intelligence in order to increase output and quality. We are also developing a new type of wastewater plant with a technology not yet used in the UAE and that will bring about a substantial saving on power consumption. Without power, water and wastewater, the majority of our daily activities would not be possible. Is Qatra continuing to
