Smart card system to be launched for water tankers in Oman

Muscat: In order to provide safe drinking water to it citizens and residents, the Public Authority for Electricity and Water (PAEW) will be launching new monitoring and control stations for water tankers.
Speaking to the Times of Oman (TOO), a senior official from PAEW said a smart card system for water tankers will be introduced from next month. “This will help us develop water networks and help reduce water wastage, which is often lost while refuelling.”
The first phase of the project will start from February 1 in the Bausher and Al Ghubrah filling stations. “Later, it will be extended to the Al Khuwair, Ghala, Falaj Al Sham stations,” the official added.
The PAEW will replace half of the existing station magnetic devices, retaining the rest and working via the old system for tankers owners, who have old cards that will be used for the remaining credit for a week.
The new system will also offer automatic control in the amount of water pumped into the tanker as the tanker owner has to enter the smart card into the control devices, which in turn will show the card data, including the card number, the validity and the balance available in the card. The control device will only pump water to the tankers after confirming the data of the smart card, as it will also show the amount of water pumped into the tanker.
The new system is expected to help reduce water loss in all parts of the Sultanate. “Taking into account the security and safety prospects, the tanker owner will no longer have to climb to the top of the tanker, but only has to place the smart card in the control device, which be properly placed through the new system,” the official added.
Tankers owners have to visit the Customer Services Department, which had once announced the activation of the new system in different areas of the Sultanate to get new smart cards. They should present a tanker ownership document, an ID card and the health certificate of tanker, according to PAEW.
The concerned personnel at the PAEW will register all the data related to the tankers’ owners and issue a new smart card.
Each smart card includes a serial number, which will enable the PAEW to know all the details of the card. The PAEW is working on water supply through the construction high quality and efficiency water transport networks to cover 98 per cent of the population of the Sultanate by the year 2040.