The Ministry of Water and Electricity plans to expand sewage networks to cover 70 percent of urban areas in the Kingdom by the end of 2019.
Quoting a ministry official, local media said the ministry also plans to do away with sewage pools and resolve environmental issues associated with them. The ministry, instead, intends to use other alternative means to treat waste water, said Director of Sewage Department Ali Al-Mutlaq.
Sewage networks currently cover 49 percent of all cities and provinces and the figure is expected to touch 53 percent by the end of the current year, he said.
The ministry has also taken up construction and operation of centralized labs Kingdom-wide to monitor the quality of processed waste water and expand projects to re-use the processed waters to meet all municipal, industrial and agricultural purposes, he noted.
Simultaneously, the ministry has also begun building up a comprehensive database on waste water disposal systems in all parts of the Kingdom which could be accessible through the Internet, he said, adding that efforts will continue to update all operational data.
He said the ministry recently launched the “processed water” initiative whereby the National Water Company (NWC) could commercialize the re-use of processed waste water and look for potential customers for this purpose.
Following this development, the NWC may enter into deals for supply of processed water for a period extending up to 30 years with certain mega companies such as Saudi Aramco, Saudi Arabian Mining Co. (Maaden), Saudi Cooling Co, and Saudi Electricity Co. (SEC), he said.
Efforts will also be intensified to improve the quality of processed waters through the development of the processing plants and the introduction of latest processing techniques complying with international standards, he pointed out.
Sewage grid to cover 70% of urban areas by 2019
