Jeddah has a sewerage problem. Of that there can be no doubt. Most of the city’s sewage is transported by truck and dumped, untreated, into an artificial 3-million square meter lake northeast of the city.
It is far from the ideal situation. On the contrary, it is an environmental disaster waiting to happen. The recent heavy rains which saw streets flooded across the Kingdom and even resulted in several tragic fatalities have raised fears that the dam at Wadi Al-Asia lake could burst, flooding the city with millions of tons of raw sewage. For that reason, the suggestion that Jeddah Municipality pump treated sewage into the Red Sea makes a great deal of sense.
However, there have to be guarantees that such a project is built to the highest standards, with rigorous monitoring during construction to ensure that corners are not cut and that, once up and running, standards are monitored and maintained. There are good reasons for fearing that this may not be the case. There have been too many horror stories over the years about contractors cheating on the job, cutting corners and using inadequate materials. Only a couple of days ago, it was disclosed that one of the prime reasons why roads were so damaged during the recent heavy rains was because contractors had used shoddy material.
The same cannot be allowed to happen if sewage is to be pumped into the Red Sea. As anyone who goes deep sea diving can testify, it is, with its remarkable corals and aquatic life, a unique marine environment, so much so that it deserves to be classified as a World Heritage site.
Unfortunately, the Jeddah authorities’ recent statement that the sewage pumped into the sea would be treated to tertiary level has raised more questions than it answers. Tertiary level treatment turns it into drinking water. Why go to the expense of treating it to that level and then dump it into the sea? It does not make sense. It could at least be used for agriculture.
Moreover, the plan to build three new pipes into the sea does not appear to be accompanied by three matching treatment plants. There is a project to expand the present treatment plant which is linked to the only current Red Sea sewage pipe outlet, in south Jeddah, to 140,000 cubic meters’ capacity a day — but that is over a period of several years and it is still much less than what will be needed. There are real concerns then that if the pipes are built, toxic raw sewage is going to be dumped in the Red Sea. It is already happening. The existing treatment plant, which provides secondary (not tertiary) level treatment, cannot cope with present demand.
Saudi Arabia has a duty to the future and to the rest of the world to protect the Red Sea. Dumping sewage there is acceptable but it must properly treated and the entire system operated and maintained to the highest international environmental standards — the key word there being “maintained”.
Too often in the Kingdom, vast amounts are spent on magnificent projects, but once up and running, little or no attention is paid to maintenance. This is a job for the Saudi Environment Monitoring and Protection Authority. It needs to be actively involved in this project; without its approval, the pipes must not be allowed to open. It has to make sure that standards are maintained and enforced and that any infringements are punished. It is the only way to protect a fragile Red Sea.
