Let me start my article with stories because there are things to be learned from them. Here is a conversation repeated in every engineering office when a blueprint for a building or a house has been made.
The engineer asks, “Do you want a well?” The owner of the building is surprised and asks, “Why do I need a well?” The engineer then answers, “For sewage which is connected to underground water and then you will not have to deal with sewage tanks which might cost you SR200 a month.” The man says that he will not do such a thing since it is dangerous to the environment.
The engineer then asks if the man thinks that because he does not dig a hole environmental pollution will end. “Do you think what the tanker drivers are doing is good for the environment? They take the sewage water to that beautiful lake which has become one of Jeddah’s most famous sights. If the lake overruns its banks, it will flood Jeddah with sewage. The decision is yours but do your calculations carefully.”
Many writers have written about this problem, calling the attention of the authorities and the public to it and yet we see that nothing is being done. Officials have come and gone; departments have expanded and contracted and newspapers have been filled with promises of action. Some say that the company charged with solving the problem was never paid and so the underground pipes were never connected to buildings and houses. Whatever the story, whatever the reason, it is a real problem today and it demands a solution.
Many people have talked and written about the danger of the lake of sewage in eastern Jeddah. The world is full of environmental protection committees and groups. Some are official while others are private. In Lebanon, for example, there are 100 committees dedicated to environmental protection. We have only one which does very little. We all live in the environment and if it is poisoned, sooner or later we will be too.
