JEDDAH, 3 October 2006 — Jeddah’s water crisis has continued unabated for several weeks now as some Shoura Council members urged the consultative council to invite the water and electricity minister to discuss the issue.

Shoura Council Chairman Saleh Bin-Humaid also called upon the members to adopt a proactive approach to the crisis by providing their ideas and proposals to solve the issue as quickly as possible.

“The council is very much concerned with the water crisis as well as other issues pertaining to the welfare of citizens,” the chairman told a meeting of the Shoura Council.

Bin-Humaid welcomed the move to establish a national water company and hoped that it would play a big role in easing the crisis that has spread to other cities.

The joint stock company, with a capital of about SR40 billion ($10.6 billion), will take over the groundwater sector, the distribution of drinking water and the collection and treatment of sewage water.

Water and Electricity Minister Abdullah Al-Hussayen recently announced plans to pump 50,000 cubic meters of water from reserves and increase the number of water tankers to solve the crisis in Jeddah.

He said the permanent solution to the water shortage in the city could be found only after the completion of the Shuaiba-3 desalination plant, on the Red Sea about 100 kilometers south of Jeddah.

According to local press reports more than 15 residential districts in Jeddah have been without water for over a month. Many families were without water since the beginning of Ramadan when water consumption usually goes up.

A rise in demand for water leads to water cuts in many parts of the city, leaving residents scrambling to obtain a water truck from somewhere in order to fill the tanks in their buildings.

Hundreds of people assemble at the Jeddah Water Distribution Center in Aziziya to buy water tankers every day. Many send their wives and sisters to the center in order to get coupons for water tankers quickly.

According to Abdul Rahman Al-Muhammadi, director of the water department in Jeddah, more than 600 women come to the center every day.

“Among them there will not be more than 100 women without a male relative,” he pointed out.

Warda Ahmed, a resident of Rawabi district, said she had come to the distribution center three times in 24 hours to get a tanker of water. “I came about 4 p.m. after Asr prayer. When I was about to reach the counter I was told to come after Maghreb,” she said while talking about the indifferent attitude of officials at the department.