Introduction

In an arid country such as Oman, the pressure on freshwater reserves is severe. This is because
the freshwater is required to fulfill all the needs for water. The alternative source of water is the
greywater. Greywater is usually known as all sources of domestic water that have been used
once, apart from toilet and bidet water. There are big constraints to the development of treated
greywater from household. However, these constraints do not build at the mosque where a large
quantity of water is produced in ablution room. By developing knowledge based on a simple
treatment system a valueble amount of water saving can be made since there are about 13000
community mosques in Oman producing sub stantical quantity of ablution water on daily basis.

Ablution water treatment

There are 8 steps to treat the ablution water correctly which is used based on the methods used to
treat greywater. Firstly, we must removed the sand. Since the worshippers wash their feet, the
soil must be removed first. This can be achived by using a sand trap. Secondly, we use the
storage of greywater. In general, during the 24 hour period, the tank must manage to store the
ablution water. A pump should be install too to transfer the water at least once in 24 hours.
Thirdly, in the greywater methods, we must balance the pH value because depending on its
contaminants, it can be acidic or alkaline. But since the pH value of ablution water is within a
correct limits, there is no need for pH balancing. Besides that, the screening process must be
done to remove a floating solid particles such as hair, grass clippings etc. A dripinigation filter
was included to do that job. On top of that, the slow filtering should be done also. This is to
remove the odor and toxins in the water. Filtering may include slow sand filters and carbon
filters. Then, aeration or flotation process must be done. By allowing the treated water to fall
from pipes to storage tanks, opportunity for aeration was provided. Furthermore, a chlorination
process must be done. A chlorination chute was considered necessary since the Coliform levels
were above acceptable levels. Finally, a storage tank, big enough to store water at least two day
to ensure the reliable supply of treated water.

Wudhu Water Saving Method

To allow the settlement of soil particles, the ablution water was sent through a sand trap. The
periodic cleaning of this trap was easy because the sand trap was shallow. Automatically the
ablution water was conveyed by gravity to the wudhu water storage tank, and water dropped
from near soil surface to the water level, aerating on its way. In the event of the number of the
worshippers increased in the future, the storage tank will be adequate to store more water. A
submersible pump was installed in the storage tank which was controlled by a float. When the
depth of water in the storage tank was 0.5 m, the float triggered the operation of the pump and it
immediately stop the pump when the depth of water storage tank dropped to 0.2 m depth. Thus,
the untreated water was not held in the tank for a long time. The pump lifted the water to send
through a drip-irrigation filter. This would stop floating matter passes through. After the filtration
process, the water passed through a chlorination chute which is full of chlorine tablets. The
filtered water that was mixed with chlorine was then dropped into the treated water storage tank,
further aerated on its passage.

Conclusions
To provide an alternative source of water for irrigation of lawns and gardens the people of Oman
can use the water used for ablution at the mosques across Oman. However, its true potential
regarding the quality and the quantity still remained unknown. This is because the result show
the volume of the ablution water production at the mosque was highly variable, making it an
untrusted source of information. However, by making a sufficiently big storage tanks for treated
water, a buffer can be created and the reability of treated ablution water supply can be improved.