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Every day, more than 100 parameters are analyzed in our laboratory following the international standard procedures of analyses.
The water is analyzed at each step of the process to secure its compliancy with the operating conditions as well as with the Omani Standard for potable water.
To comply with the high plant availability requirements imposed by the WPA, the Asset Management Plan has been fully reviewed and completed in 2013 based on the past 5 years of operation experience. The main outcomes of this study are the following:
With more than 2,000 pieces of equipment connected on a Centralized Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition system (‘SCADA’) hosted in our control room, our operation team is continuously monitoring the performance of the plant 24/7 and all year long.
To ensure the equipment used within the plant functions at optimum capacity, maintenance and Asset Management play a major role in the plant activity. A dedicated Computerized Maintenance Management System (‘CMMS’) has been implemented to plan, followup, record and guide our maintenance team on their daily assignments.
Remote control tablets connected with the CMMS make sure that all maintenance engineers and technicians have access to the required information as well as to instructions to perform an efficient maintenance task.
Finally, a long-term renewal plan of all assets based on criticality and risk assessment has been implemented to better plan the required investments.
Continuous increase of water supply
As expected, the year 2014 confirmed the significant increase of water demand within the Sharqiyah region, in line with the several connection works and improvement of water access to the population by the Public Authority of Electricity and Water (PAEW).
Therefore and for the past 4 years, the water quantity produced and supplied by the Sur Desalination Plant is increasing by an average of 7% per year with up to 15% increase of water demand during summer period between June to September.
In line with the availability achievement, the plant delivered potable water complying with the Water Purchase Agreement requirements and the Omani Standards with no single non-conformity for 2014.
In addition, more than 12,000 water parameters have successfully been analyzed in the plant’s internal laboratory facilities in 2014 following the national frequency program of potable water monitoring.
The Reverse Osmosis membranes are the heart of the Sur Desalination Plant process. These very sensitive and expensive membranes require a strong monitoring and permanent follow-up to ascertain their lifespan and guarantee optimized and continuous fresh water production. With more than 9000 Reverse Osmosis membrane units installed on site, this asset is by far the most critical one.
In 2014, the close monitoring, process parameters and membranes autopsies showed very positive signs of lifespan extension. Therefore, the starting of the Reverse Osmosis membranes replacement program, initially planned in 2012, has been shifted to early 2016. The Operation and Maintenance company is of course focusing in initiating such a heavy replacement program whenever it requires to guarantee a stable and compliant water production.
