Authors: Abdullah Al Mamoon, Shafi Noor, Ataur Rahman, Subhi Almasri
Abstract:
Sea outfalls discharge pollutants into the sea from various sources such as industries, stormwater runoff, desalination plants and construction projects. There have been many studies around the globe to assess the impacts of sea outfalls on the marine environment; however, such studies are very limited in the Arabian Gulf, especially in Qatar. In this paper, the previous sea outfall studies in the Arabian Gulf region are reviewed in relation to an ongoing assessment of sea outfalls in Qatar. The ambient marine water quality and effluent standards in Qatar are compared with those of nearby Gulf countries. Existing stormwater outfalls in Qatar are found to be surface water outfalls. The outfall receiving water depths in the Arabian Gulf and water velocities are smaller compared with many deep water outfalls around the world. No serious contamination of the marine environment in the Gulf near the Qatar coastline has been found in the literature. However, the current sea outfall study in Qatar involving significant monitoring, testing and modelling will be able to shed more light on the marine environmental state in the Arabian Gulf along the Qatar coastline.
36th Hydrology and Water Resources Symposium, Hobart, Australia. 07-10 Decemebr, 2015