AN urgent recommendation to spray water along the sea shore in Muharraq to provide relief from rising sand and dust has been approved by councillors.
The timely proposal was tabled yesterday as strong winds hit Bahrain with rising sand in some areas, rough seas and low visibility.
The weathermen forecast the conditions to continue until tomorrow.
Residents in blocks 226 and 228 in Busaiteen have been complaining of sand entering their homes during heavy sandstorms, or piling up at their doorstep due to a surge in construction activity in the area.
“The idea is to have the Muharraq Municipality spray water along the open shores and the large areas of sandy wasteland in the area,” said Muharraq Municipal Council chairman Ghazi Al Murbati.
“The point is to make the sand wet and heavy enough to stay grounded during heavy winds rather than fly into people’s homes.”
The veteran councillor explained how the council received daily complaints from residents whose properties have been damaged by fine sand swirling into their homes; in some cases people have been unable to open their doors due to sand piling up outside.
“The temporary solution would see the meteorological directorate at the Transportation and Telecommunications Ministry alerting us to any impending sandstorm, and the municipality spraying water along the shores on the same day,” said Mr Al Murbati.
“Initially, we will focus on Busaiteen and if successful the measure will be implemented in other areas in Muharraq where people are facing the same issue.”
However, council public utilities and environment affairs committee chairman and area councillor Fadhel Al Oud called for a more practical and stable solution to the problem.
“While the current proposal will help in extreme measures, the weather is not always predicable.
“Moving forward we have to come up with practical solutions, such as giving the contractors the responsibility to apply barricades or fences to hold the sand in instead of it swirling into people’s houses.”
Muharraq Municipality director-general Ibrahim Al Jowder added that there are more stable solutions that can be worked out for the foreseeable future.
“More stable solutions to combat the sandstorms do exist,” he said.
“They are long-term projects such as afforestation or construction of buildings that will naturally put an end to the collected dust and sand.
“However, both are long-term solutions with afforestation requiring approximately three to five years to bear results, and the latter requiring up to 10 years to show any result.
“Until then, spraying water is a temporary solution that will minimise the damages faced by the residents in the area.”
Meanwhile, reports yesterday indicated heavy sandstorms in Kuwait heading to neighbouring countries.
In its latest weather bulletin, the Transportation and Telecommunications Ministry warned of wind speed reaching reach 22 knots to 27 knots.
&uuid=(email))