Feasibility Study of Using Treated Wastewater to Mitigate Seawater Intrusion along Northern Coast of Oman

The coastal plain aquifers in Sultanate of Oman are suffering from seawater intrusion due to huge water deficit in the coastal communities thereby seriously deteriorating the groundwater quality. Among other options in arid countries like The Sultanate, one of the viable one is the use of treated wastewater to recharge the coastal aquifers. This option is viable because of the availability of tertiary treated wastewater from the treatment plants managed by Haya Wastewater Company, Oman. In the present study MODFLOW for groundwater flow is implemented and calibrated in one of the most important coastal plain aquifers in Al-Batinah region, Sultanate of Oman. The calibrated model is then used to study the effect of treated wastewater injection into the aquifer on groundwater levels. It was ascertained that the available treated wastewater could be used as an effective option to defy seawater intrusion into this region by raising groundwater table.