JEDDAH, 15 November 2005 — The Jeddah Water and Power Forum concluded yesterday with sessions that included presentations on a focus on water management and distribution. The Deputy Minister for Planning at the Ministry of Water and Electricity (MOWE) Loay Musallam told the delegates that the Kingdom faced the prospect of the factors of population growth, low rainfall and low tariffs for water would result in “Saudi Arabia not meeting its needs by 2025.”
To address this situation, the Kingdom, he said, was aiming at “world class connectivity” and water for all within 20 years. The cost he indicated could be as high as $46 billion but said that manipulating capital expenditure and revenue from end users — achieved through a commercial water tariff — the cost could be substantially reduced.
Musallam said that the government would adopt a gradualist approach, including demand management, accurately assessing leakage in the distribution system — which he put as high as 35 percent or 1 million cubic meters a day — and water metering. If the leakages alone were reduced to 10 percent over the next 20 years, it would realize a saving of $10 billion.
He said that the steps in water conservation introduced by the MOWE had been very successful. The conservation kits distributed to 30,000 premises throughout the Kingdom had a 90 percent installation rate. Ninety percent of people interviewed rated them as “excellent” and the cost of the kits was recovered in costs of water saved in just 17 days.
In the last eight months he said that the water sector’s operational systems had been restructured including an operational audit.
In a presentation that addressed the supply side of the water equation, Dr. Walid Abderrahman, Professor of Water Resources Management at KUFPM outlined the possibility and benefits of the growing technology of Aquifer Storage and Recovery (ASR). The technology involves injecting sweet water and treated wastewater into depleted aquifers and using them as a “water bank,” to be drawn on when needed ñ for example high summer or seasonal Haj. Originally tried in the USA, South Africa and New Zealand, the technology is now used in the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait.
Dr. Abderrahman said that there were environmental benefits as well as considerable cost savings in the technology as the storage facilities were natural and did not involve extensive construction. Previous experiences showed savings of 50 to 90 percent on construction and reversed the decline in the quality and quantity of aquifer water.
Some kind of extensive reserves are needed near major conurbations said Dr. Abderrahman. Riyadh alone will need an estimated over one billion cubic meters per day by 2020 whereas groundwater reserves currently were able to supply 200 million.
The forum ended on a note of success. Water is a topic of increasingly rising profile on the Kingdom’s social agenda and will remain so for generations to come.
The importance of the forum and the topic was demonstrated by the attendees exceeding the organizer’s targets by 60 percent, with 97 companies from 17 countries setting out their products and services in a 2,500 meter exhibition hall. With 40 speakers, 370 delegates and 14 major sponsors, the Jeddah Forum for Water and Power has established itself on the world water scene.