Page 173 - Bahrain Gov Annual Reports (IV)_Neat

Ill

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AGRICULTURE AND WATER COMMITTEE

Early in the year His Highness the Ruler appointed a Committee, of which he himself was
chairman, to deal with the control of water, especially from artesian wells, and agricultural matters in
general. The members of the committee were: the Adviser, Mr. R. Godfrey (Bahrein Petroleum
Company), Haj Khalil Ebrahim al Moayed, Haj Mansoor al Arayedh, Haj Abdul Aziz al Gosaibi, Haj
Isa bin Saif al Bin Ali, Haj Abdulla bin Hijair and Mr. K. P. Narayan. The aim of the committee was
to take steps to preserve the existing water supply, to prevent waste of water and to improve and increase
agriculture. About 25 years ago the first artesian well was drilled in Bahrain. Since then, for many years,
the drilling of artesian wells was not restricted, large numbers of wells were drilled by local contractors
in the towns and in the country ; within the Municipal boundary of Manama there arc 44 artesian wells
and the number of wells in the whole of Bahrain amounts to several hundreds. About ten years ago the
Bahrain Government decided that unrestricted drilling of artesian wells was likely to endanger the island’s
water supply. The public were forbidden to drill wells without first obtaining permission from the
Government, and for some years no permission to drill wells was given. On this account the con­
tractors who owned drilling equipment disposed of their equipment and at present there is only one
drilling rig in Bahrain.
The first wells were sunk by the Eastern and General Syndicate, they were expensive but they were
properly done. Some of these wells were paid for by the Government, others were paid for by Waqf
funds, charitable requests, for the benefit of the public. In the beginning, wells were drilled only to
provide the population with water for domestic purposes. Later, wells were sunk in order to irrigate
gardens and open land which could be cultivated. Many of the contractors who drilled wells supplied
them with inadequate casing, much of the casing too on old wells corroded in the course of time causing
subterranean leaks. Although the Government issued orders regarding the control of new wells by
valves and stand pipes yet many of the old wells continued to flow without control.

For nine years the Bahrein Petroleum Company has been observing the water situation in Bahrain
and the committee was informed by Mr. Godfrey that during this period a definite reduction had been
observed in the static head of water, particularly in the last five years in areas where new water wells had
been drilled. Since 1944 a total of 25 wells were drilled producing 12J million Imperial gallons daily.
As a result water decreased in many of the older wells and it is likely that older wells on higher ground
will stop flowing altogether.
At the first meeting of the committee it was decided that any applications for permission to drill
wells should be considered by the committee. During the year 30 applications were received, in ten cases
permission to drill was granted and eight new wells were drilled. Permission to drill was only granted
after an inspection of the site by members of the committee who did not recommend a well unless they
were satisfied that the water would be used for irrigating land for agricultural purposes. If old wells
existed which were not providing enough water in some eases permission was given to sink a new well
provided that the old well was plugged back. In these matters the committee accepted the advice of Mr.
Godfrey whose expert knowledge of the water situation in Bahrain was of the greatest value.
Various subjects were discussed at the meetings of the committee. Suggestions were made that a
large irrigation scheme should be considered to bring water from the submarine springs, which are numerous
along the coast, to the shore and then to pump it inland to some area which would be suitable for culti­
vation, or to sink a group of wells in a suitable locality and to irrigate the land by pumping the water into
canals. Other members suggested that loans should be given to garden owners, although most of the
gardens are owned by comparatively wealthy people. The possibility of well owners sharing their water
with neighbouring land owners was discussed, it was agreed that in theory this could be done but in fact
it was impracticable.

The chief result which this new committee has achieved is that the members themselves have now
gained a general understanding of the water situation in Bahrain, which it is hoped they will make known
to other people, and in future the drilling of wells will be controlled and only allowed under certain
conditions.