A call to construct special pipelines and networks to recycle wudu (ablution) water for essential irrigation purposes has been made by councillors to prevent millions of gallons being wasted.
Some mosques have already started redirecting ablution water from the main sewage network but are finding it costly to hire water tankers to drain the supplies on a regular basis, it has been claimed.
The Southern Municipal Council is now asking the Cabinet to urgently draw up necessary plans and allocate funding in the 2023-2024 national budget for work to begin next year.
“We’re wasting almost clean Wudu water by not putting it into proper use,” said the council’s services and public utilities committee chairman Abdulla Abdullatif.
“Five prayers daily over 365 days by more than one million people in Bahrain, locals and expats, and that indicates enormous waste amounting to millions of gallons,” he added.
“Some mosques have thankfully put in tanks to store the water, but they have found it costly to get it removed and some have switched off the separating valve leading the water, that could clearly be used again, going down the drain.”
Mr Abdullatif referred to wudu water as ‘grey water’, which means it is not entirely clean but does not need extensive treatment.
Greywater is commonly used water from bathroom sinks, showers, tubs and washing machines. It is not water that has come into contact with faeces, either from the toilet or from washing diapers.
He added that it was shameful that Islam teaches people to conserve, while vital water resources are not best utilised.
“Kuwait has already started reusing Wudu water for irrigation and Oman is also currently working on 166 locations using modern technology to use treated water for other purposes,” said Mr Abdullatif.
“Our ablution areas could be connected through special pipelines into a separate drainage system that directly goes for irrigation purposes and, in future, for construction purposes too.”
Wudu is the Islamic procedure for cleansing parts of the body, a type of ritual purification, or ablution. It consists of washing the face, arms, then wiping the head and finally washing the feet with water for the five prayers.
Current Municipalities Affairs and Agriculture Minister and former Electricity and Water Affairs Minister Wael Al Mubarak told MPs that strategic water reserves in Bahrain, fit for human consumption, amount to 659 million gallons.
He added that, according to statistics at the end of 2019, the average daily consumption of water was 249 litres per person.
The minister added that water storage capacity is set to increase from 635m gallons to 858m gallons in 2024.
Former minister Essam Khalaf told councillors earlier construction rules have been changed for new mosques and worship places to make them more environment-friendly.
He said earlier this year that to get a design approved, it should incorporate recycling equipment and storage tanks.
Mr Khalaf said small-scale pilot schemes to recycle wudu water in an internal network are under implementation in two mosques - Safiya Kanoo Mosque in Tubli and Ali Kanoo Mosque in Hidd.
Mr Abdullatif and other environmentalists would like to see new initiatives being introduced across the country.
mohammed@gdnmedia.bh
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