As part of the State’s approach to alternative energy substitution and utilization in expanding water and sanitation services and reducing the high cost of diesel, Marshal Mahdi Al-Mashat the President of the Supreme Political Council opened and laid the foundation stone for a package of water and sanitation projects in the capital’s secretariat costs $ 17 million and $326,000.

Projects opened by President Al-Mashat include the rehabilitation of the main line transporting in Assaela road and the sewage treatment plant at a cost of $7 million and $828,000, supply and installation of three 4300 kW generators for the water pump plant and wastewater treatment plant at a total cost of $1 million and $807,000.

Projects include the rehabilitation of the main water pump plant and the implementation of water and sanitation systems in a number of districts at a cost of $2 million and $799,000, supply and installation of 3,400 kW solar power system for wells, water pumping plant and wastewater treatment plant at a total cost of $4 million and $890,000, in addition to the water well solar project, which is the supply, installation and operation of 600 kW solar-powered pumping units at a cost of $ 638 thousand and $200.

During the inauguration, President Al-Mashat confirmed the State’s direction to replace alternative energy for various service projects in the Capital Secretariat and the provinces, especially water and sanitation projects, to reduce the high cost of diesel, especially in view of the continued blockade and seizure of oil derivatives vessels.

Minister of Water and Environment Eng. Abdulraqeeb Al-Sharmani notes the importance of the solar water pumping units project which no longer require any operational cost after the initial cost, as they are powered by solar power, to recover the funding gap between solar system and fuel system within a maximum of two years.

In a speech to Saba Minister Al-Sharmani explained that the maintenance of solar water pumping units, It will be easier than other pump power sources, and pump systems can operate for years without any maintenance.. Solar pumping system is a low-maintenance, designed to correct specifications, and can operate for years without any maintenance other than cleaning dust from solar panels.

Solar panels have a life span of 25 to 30 years, and voltage regulators or inverters can last up to 10 years.

According to the Minister of Water, the importance of the solar water pumping units project is that the solar pump technology is tested, tested and proven efficiency, the scarcity of fuel and its high cost of delivery throughout the country constitute an advantage for solar energy.

He noted that the solar project would contribute to reducing operating expenses, as well as reduces consumption of more than 1,200 litres per day to over 300 million riyals per year.

The importance of the project to rehabilitate the main water pumping station lies in covering a wide area of the capital Sana’a’s neighbourhoods, benefiting more than 30 thousand people.

The Director-General of the Local Water and Sanitation Corporation of the Capital Secretariat, Mohammed Al-Shami, explained that the number of beneficiaries of the main water pumping plant rehabilitation project up to 30,000, accounting for 30 per cent of the total subscribers, while the coverage of the Department’s main water pump plant located in the Water Foundation’s General Administration to Zubaeri and Hail Streets.

The project was to rehabilitate the water pumping plant with equipment, tools and materials at an estimated cost of $ 566 A and $600.

Local Water Corporation notes the project’s importance in developing available water resources, securing water security requirements and providing potable water to citizens, by improving the delivery of potable water to local communities, as well as regular provision of safe water for children’s and their families’ health, improved water demand management, stabilization and ensuring people’s decent livelihoods.

The work to be carried out within the project is the technical maintenance and repair of the pump station and equipment,
and the rehabilitation of all pumping buildings, including internal, external, concrete and wall rules, and replacement of pumps and motors along with replacement of sockets, counters and the rest of the precarious mechanical equipment.

All lighting and wire fixtures will be repaired and new electronic control systems for water pumping engines, diesel generators, transformers, Electrical feeding cables, generator plates, as well as rehabilitation of the submersible water station and other pipelines and valves, filtration elements and sterilizers, sediment tank cleaning and replacement of dirty sand particles with new silica sand for all filtration elements if any.

According to the Director of the Local Enterprise, the main water pump plant project also includes the supply and operation of an 1100 kW generator to operate the institution’s water pumping plant at a cost of $ 375 thousand and $600, which will provide a basic power source for the main water pump plant, given the need for much power to provide generator-assisted service, as a potential source of stable power.

The project also includes the supply, installation and operation of a 800 kW hybrid system for the operation of the water pump plant at a cost of $1 million, 331,000 and $256, to ensure that no operating cost is required, the pump station requires approximately 560 kilowatts of power and is operated for one or two cycles “Five hours or 10 hours” according to the distribution schedule in the neighbourhoods, and the station’s consumption of diesel is more than 200 litres per hour or 2,000 litres in the two sessions, the project is therefore expected to contribute to reducing consumption of more than a thousand and 600 litres per day up to 400 million riyals per year.

According to the Foundation’s leadership, the water pump plant project will supply and implement water network lines and tower reservoirs in a number of neighbourhoods at a cost of 716 thousand and 268 dollars.. The water system will contribute to improving water production and transportation capacities to meet society’s growing needs, improve public health and ensure the provision of water for domestic and industrial use and fire resistance.

The importance of the water system project is also to accelerate growth, as water is the cornerstone on which all social growth processes depend, economic, urban and food security, as well as promotion of drinking water consumption, hygiene, wastewater management and sustainability of rural water supply services.

The main water pump plant project includes the supply and implementation of major transport lines and sewage systems in a number of directorates at a cost of 1 million and $516,000 and $746, the fact that sewage systems have become a necessity for society in light of the expansion of construction that requires fixed and practical sewage systems to solve many environmental problems affecting cities, in addition to preserving and benefiting from water wealth.

The main line transporting sewage will undergo to a rehabilitation in Assaela road with a length of 5.148 km at a cost of 6 million and 480,000 dollars, to preserve old Sana ‘a buildings and streets from leaks that lead to the risk of collapse of their physical features, It is also one of the most important infrastructure projects in the city that will improve the city’s environmental conditions.

According to the leadership of the Local Water and Sanitation Corporation of the secretariat, the project area will cover some streets of the old city of Sana’a, to ensure that wastewater does not leak into Assaela and diverts it to a direct source of disease and epidemics, besides rehabilitating the wastewater transporting main line to receive additional quantities of wastewater from the south of the capital.

The Secretariat’s wastewater treatment plant rehabilitation project includes the rehabilitation of plant units and replacement of electro-mechanical equipment at a cost of $1 million, $428,000 and $230.

The project’s importance is highlighted in the analysis and assessment of equipment requiring high power, which contributes to a better energy efficiency, providing possible interventions, along with the supply of equipment that contributes to the rehabilitation of processing units, and electro-mechanical equipment at the processing plant.

The plant’s units rehabilitation project is important in assessing the performance of operational equipment and maintenance programmes for emergency failure reduction equipment, Study the possibility of replacing some processing systems with modern and appropriate processing techniques to improve the current ventilation system and less electric card and better biological treatment, besides providing electro-mechanical equipment and spare parts for the operation of biological processing basins – ventilation basins and station entrance unit and sludge pumps.

The treatment plant rehabilitation project also includes the supply, installation and operation of two generators with a capacity of 3, 200 kilowatts for the plant at a cost of $ 432 million and $500, the plant using the mechanical ventilation system needs large power sources up to more than 2 MW throughout the day without stopping.

The two generators will provide basic energy sources for the wastewater treatment plant, given the need for much energy to sustain the service.

As in the case of the main water pump plant, a hybrid system for the wastewater treatment plant will be supplied and installed at a capacity of 2, 000 kilowatts at a cost of $2 million and $863,000, to ensure the provision of an alternative energy source to ensure the operation of the plant in the event of total fuel absence and to contribute to the reduction of operating expenses and reducing consumption of more than 4,000 litres per day to over 1 billion riyals per year.

The treatment plant, which has been operational for more than 22 years, is working to process the daily flow of sewage, with a higher biological load than the natural rates designed for it, which is reflected in electro-mechanical equipment, which requires maintenance work and electrical energy expenditures for operation and rapid depreciation.

As a result of the scarcity of spare parts and the limited operating expenses, especially for electric power, over the past eight years under aggression and blockade, the situation has worsened and requires frequent and programmed intervention to support the plant’s maintenance of equipment.

Source: Yemen News Agency