JEDDAH, 8 November 2003 — The branch of the Jeddah Municipality in south Jeddah has pointed out that all treated water is not to be sold. Some water is meant for municipality use only.

If there is a violation, there is a committee to take action against the violator. It has been reported in south Jeddah that violations are occurring.

Many angry citizens have complained that trucks with no logo specifying what the water is for are selling their contents as drinking water. People are buying the water without knowing what it should be used for.

Tarek Lamfon, the manager of the municipality branch in south Jeddah, said that there had been some violations.

According to his statement, the sale conditions specified by the Jeddah Municipality are as follows:

* White trucks: Desalinated drinking water

* Blue trucks: Well water that is drinkable

* Green trucks: Well water that is not drinkable

* Yellow trucks: Sewage

Khalid Abdullah, a Saudi, said: “I have noticed many times that strange trucks are filling up with water from this treatment project here in south Jeddah.

“There are trucks that are not supposed to go to the project site, buy water and sell it to people. It is fine if yellow and green trucks are the ones filling water, but it is not all right when we see blue and white trucks selling this water to people as drinking water.

“This is an environmental disaster that is dangerous to human health. I have reported this to the municipality and they did a good job in eliminating the problem. They closed the project for two days but when it was reopened, the problem began again.”

Abdullah Abbas said, “There are blue and white trucks coming to the place. They are not supposed to be here.

“There are also unmarked trucks with no logo at all and they take this water and sell it to people. Where is the municipality in all this?”

Tarek Lamfon said: “This project belongs to a well known private company. It is designed to purify sewage water.

“There are some violations and we are sending teams from the municipality to make sure that there are no violations committed.”