Construction of five mega-reservoirs that aim to boost Qatar’s emergency water supply is now 70 percent complete, Kahramaa officials have announced.

When finished, they will be among the world’s largest reservoirs, with a capacity of some 100 million gallons of water each.

They aim to supply Qatar’s population a seven-day strategic reserve of freshwater.

Currently, the nation has at best a two-day emergency supply. This is problematic given Qatar’s growing population, which has put an increasing strain on the country’s resources.

Work on the $4.7 billion Water Security Mega Reservoirs Project began in 2015, with the initial phases slated to be done next year.

The reservoirs are being built in Um Baraka, Um Salal, Rawdat Rashid, Abu Nakhla, and Al Thumama.

Progress report

According to the Qatar Tribune, more than 70 percent of reservoir construction has been completed and the facilities are now in the testing phase.

Additionally, water pipelines work is 95 percent complete and is now in testing phase.

Now, attention is being turned toward linking the five reservoirs through water pipelines that span a distance of up to 660km.

The newspaper reports that these pipelines are being imported from France and Japan.

After the reservoirs are complete, Kahramaa aims to construct additional pipelines and 16 more reservoirs at the initial five sites to achieve an “ultimate total storage capacity of about 3,800 million gallons of water,” it said on its website.

This work won’t begin until after 2020, however.

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