To be in control of the money spent on water consumption, the Public Authority for Water (DIAM) has launched Oman’s first prepaid water meters and recently started to accept applications for the service. 

“At the moment, we are only accepting applications from Muscat governorate, after which the service will be available for the rest of the govenorates,” a DIAM official said, adding that the application can be made through Diam website. 

The new prepaid water meter can help customers monitor their water consumption. ‘The cost of the metre will be covered by DIAM and meter installations will start in the fourth quarter of 2020,’ DIAM said in a statement.

‘Advantages of prepaid meters are that the consumer is in control of money spent and water consumption with ‘pay as you go’ through easy payment channels that are currently available,’ it added.

According to the Diam official, the meters will automatically be linked to the DIAM system. “In case there is a problem of malfunctioning of the meters, notifications will be sent through the Diam system,” the official said.

In another development, DIAM launched an international tender to complete the detailed consultancy studies of water storage and recovery project from aquifers, for the sites that were identified in the first phase of the project as the most promising ones for this type of projects. 

During the past year, DIAM, in cooperation with the relevant government entities, conducted an economic and technical feasibility study to implement the water storage and recovery project from aquifers (ASR) in Oman.

‘The study concluded with positive indicators for the implementation of the project, wherein about 14 sites were found suitable for the implementation of the project,’ DIAM said.