JEDDAH, 7 December 2004 — Saudi Arabia will continue its efforts to solve the pressing problems of humanity, stated Prince Sultan, second deputy premier and minister of defense and aviation, while opening an international conference on water resources at King Saud University in Riyadh.
Prince Sultan highlighted the government’s efforts to ensure adequate supply of water for people all over the country. Saudi Arabia is the world’s largest supplier of desalinated water as its 30 desalination plants on the Red Sea and Arabian Gulf pump more than 2.9 million cubic meters of water daily.
“The government knows that the demand for water will increase with the increase in population and development projects. As a result measures have been taken to expand water resources and rationalize water consumption,” he told the conference.
Earlier Prince Sultan distributed the international prize for water, which is named after him, to their winners. Cornell Professor Jery R. Stedinger of the United States received the Surface Water prize for his paper on flood control methods. Hydraulic engineer Dr. Herman Bouwer, also an American, got the prize for his work on artificial groundwater recharge.
The Alternative Water Resources prize was shared by Dr. Hisham Taha Abdullah El-Dossouky and Dr. Hisham Ettouney of Egypt for their work on desalination. King Abdul Aziz City for Science and Technology was the winner of the prize for Water Recourses Management for its work on new techniques for irrigation water conservation.
The Prince Sultan International Prize for Water was instituted in 2002 to recognize outstanding research in areas of surface water, groundwater, alternative water resources, water recourses management and protection of water resources.
This year’s winners were selected from 152 contestants from several countries including the US, Germany, Japan, South Africa, Switzerland, Austria, India, Canada, Malaysia, Turkey and Britain.
The five-day conference, organized by Prince Sultan Research Center for Environment, Water and Desert, focuses on four pivotal topics: Water resources, arid environment, desertification and the use of modern technology in studying desert environment. It will discuss research papers on such topics as integrated water-recourse management, flood control, economical desalination technologies, advances in irrigation and combating agricultural pollution.
