Muscat: Digging underground wells without obtaining a licence has dramatically increased over the past years in the Sultanate of Oman. Most of them lack safety requirements.




It undoubtedly depletes the strategic water reserves and is considered an encroachment on natural resources as well as a violation of the laws regulating suchthis kind of process.



The Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Water Resources issued a ministerial decision last June regarding the formation of a team to curb the phenomenon of unlicensed wells.
The decision aims to develop an action plan and is taking legal measures to eliminate this phenomenon.


The decision is a vital step in regulating the water sector in the Sultanate of Oman.

Engineer Maqbool bin Hussein al Rawahi, Director of the Water Licensing Department at the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Water Resources, said that the decision will strengthen the water control system in the Sultanate of Oman.

It will help to preserve, develop, protect and ensure sustainability and management of water resources.


The decision will enable the monitoring teams to perform their work completely and faster than before in taking the necessary legal measures against violators.

In addition, this phenomenon has many negatives, the most important of which is the effect on the aflajAflaj and the existing water sources, Al Rawahi pointed out.


In terms of its health effects, these wells are being dug within the boundaries of the residential plot, and most of them are located near the sewage tanks of the house.

Which means, there is a possibility of sewage water leaking into the well.