Muscat – The Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Water Resources (MAFWR) announced that it will open the Wadi Dayqah Dam gates to release 20 million m3 of water from December 6-19.

Located in Quriyat, 75km from Muscat, Wadi Dayqah is home to one of the largest dams in the Arabian Peninsula.

Dayqah Dam was built in 2012 to collect rainwater from the surrounding mountains and control the water flowing through the villages below. The result is a stunning fresh water lake and a stream flowing 7km from the main body of the dam.

A statement issued by MAFWR said, ‘The ministry will open the Wadi Dayqah Dam to drain about 20mn m3 of water. The dam has a storage capacity of 100mn m3 and a height of 75m.’ The ministry explained that the aim of opening the dam was to feed underground reservoirs for the farms of the people of Daghamr and Hail al Ghaf regions.

The ministry called on citizens to stay away from the wadi and abide by safety instructions to avoid any eventuality.

According to MAFWR, Oman falls short of 316 million m3 of water every year. The annual renewable water resources of the sultanate is estimated at about 1,318 million m3 and the pressure on these resources has been increasing, especially for agriculture which claims a share of approximately 83 per cent of the annual water needs of the country.