JEDDAH, 16 November 2006 — A phone call could mobilize a water tanker from any of Jeddah’s four water distribution centers to a resident if a proposal under study gets a nod from the authorities.

“We’re currently studying a proposal and if it is implemented, possibly in four or five months, then the request for a water tanker would be met with a telephone call,” Abdulrahman S. Al-Mohamadi, director general of Water in Jeddah, told Arab News on the sidelines of a water road show held at the Jeddah Hilton yesterday. The road show — public-private partnership for the water and waste water sector — was held with the support of Minister of Water and Electricity Abdullah Al-Hussayen.

He said that a water distribution company would be contracted to streamline the supply of water through tankers. “This is one of the private sector involvements in water,” he said, adding that the company would distribute cards to its subscribers to enable them to call up the center for a tanker.

The measure is being taken to prevent the sale of water in black market. An agreement has already been reached with a company to undertake the supply of water under the proposed arrangement.

The development follows severe shortages of water that the city experienced, especially during Ramadan, when residents complained of tankers being “sold” at three or four times their official price. An official inquiry was conducted on the basis of complaints and some of the staff at the distribution centers were transferred. Jeddah’s water requirement is around 630,000 cubic meters per day and some 50 percent of this supply is wasted due to pipeline leakages, according to an official.

A small tanker (seven cubic meters) officially costs SR42, a medium tanker (11 cubic meters) SR66 and a large one (19 cubic meters) SR114. Water supplied by the municipality costs 10 halala per cubic meter, while the same supplied by a tanker costs as much as SR6, he pointed out.

The department is shortly initiating a survey to study the leakages. “We’re also going to implement measures to plug the leakages and seek the renewal of the pipeline where it is required. We’ll also detect the illegal installation of water pumps by building owners and penalize them,” a department official said.