Think twice before wasting water
Before the discovery of oil, finding water was considered an uphill task. People used to settle in places where water was easily available. Beduins used to wander riding atop their camels in quest for areas with some form of water source and greenery.
In the Kingdom water is more expensive than the refined oil at the gas stations. Water has been mentioned in the Holy Qur’an about 60 times. In Surah Al-Anbiya Allah says: “We made every living thing of water.”
In Saudi Arabia, billions of dollars are spent on producing drinking water. Saudi Arabia has the largest desalination water facilities in the world. Ironically, we are also the largest per capita consumers of water. Unfortunately, a large amount of water is being wasted on non-economical products, such as wheat or dairy products. Also, we still have not yet applied modern ways for irrigation.
In the Kingdom, we always talk about the importance of oil production, oil export and oil refining, but, we never take the water issue as seriously as we should. Nowadays, the whole world is suffering from water shortages either because of a lack of water reserves or due to pollution. In the Kingdom we don’t have any water reserves and it seldom rains so it is important to devise a strategy in this regard. For example, many western countries with huge water resources impose more taxes on houses with swimming pools. In Saudi Arabia, water bills are one of the lowest in the world. Unfortunately, we don’t use water carefully. Islam does not appreciate wastage of water even during the ablution for prayers. Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) said: “Conserve water even if you are at the edge of a big running river.” The Kingdom must take all possible steps to conserve water and everyone should join hands in the effort and must use this precious commodity carefully. We must plan for tomorrow today.
Email: [email protected]
Disclaimer: Views expressed by writers in this section are their own and do not necessarily reflect Arab News' point of view
