JEDDAH, 21 March 2004 — Minister for Water and Electricity Dr. Ghazi Al-Gosaibi has announced the imminent establishment of the “Water Friends Association.”
Open to members of the public, the new association aims to attract people who are concerned with conserving water and using it economically and who will also encourage other members of the community to join them in doing so.
Some estimates, based on current demographic and cultural expansion, are that the Kingdom’s water reserves will last about two decades. Pressure on existing reserves from continued agricultural production — which currently accounts for between 80 and 90 percent of water use in the Kingdom — has eased only very slightly.
A second line of approaching the problem has opened up by involving the general public to cut back on its consumption.
The association, as well as performing an education and awareness role, will ask members to monitor water usage by other users, advising and reporting people and even businesses that waste water.
In an interview recently, Deputy Minister for Water and Electricity Abdullah Al-Hussayen emphasized conservation as the starting point for a new water-conscious culture. “We should start with conservation,” he said, “because it is the most promising, with clear and sure results. We can do it now, cheaply and with little effort.”
The new association is a significant first move in implementing a drive to creating water awareness in the Kingdom. Apart from public involvement in water conservation, the public sector and government should address the leakage of water from the system of pipelines in the Kingdom; the deputy minister put that figure at a conservative 20 percent, around the world average. “If we cut leakage to five percent — which has been done in many parts of the world, Singapore for example — it would be like building another Jubail plant virtually free,” said Al-Hussayen.
He advocates addressing water conservation with simple and existing technology. “Let us start with what we have, which achieves simple and clear results and does not require much money.”
Leading by example, Al-Hussayen has had three-liter “displacement bladders” installed in all the toilets in his ministry. Each reduces the water used for each flush by the same amount.
