Renovation work on the Ain Ghazal Wastewater Treatment Plant in Amman will commence early next year to address one of the capital's health and environment hotspots, officials said on Wednesday.

 

The refurbishment of the treatment plant is aimed at ending the emission of bad odors, a long-standing nuisance to area residents, and addressing traffic congestion created by scores of wastewater tankers, which line up to unload sewage at the plant, Water Minister Hazem Nasser said.

 

The rehabilitation of the plant will be implemented as part of a JD2 million agreement, under which a local contractor will increase the number of sewage discharge points at the plant from eight to 14 and raise the capacity of the sewage tankers' treatment unit from 10,000 cubic meters daily to 16,000 cubic meters, Nasser added.

 

The Ain Ghazal plant, located in east Amman near the Amman-Zarqa highway, was established in 1963.

 

It comprises two wastewater treatment units -- one receives and treats 150,000 cubic meters of wastewater from Amman's wastewater network, and the second treats 10,000 cubic meters of wastewater daily, dumped by over 150 tankers.

 

There are 27 wastewater treatment plants in the Kingdom that treat 122 million cubic meters of water per year, 115 million cubic meters of which are used for industrial purposes and irrigating certain crops, such as fodder, according to the ministry.

 

The rehabilitation and expansion of the Ain Ghazal treatment plant is funded by the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) grant.