JEDDAH, 11 September 2005 — Water shortages in Jeddah are an annual occurrence, especially in the summer months. Public reaction begins with outrage and develops into panic-buying of water tankers and the spontaneous growth of a lively black market. And, according to Mohammed Baghdadi, director general for water in the Makkah Region, as a result of “zoning” supplies so that distribution is as equable as possible, they are planned.
It could nearly all be avoided, not by action from the authorities alone but by some simple self-control on the part of the water consumer which would bring down per capita water consumption to European levels. “The obvious answer is to produce more water,” said Baghdadi, “but there is another aspect.”
He referred to conservation both as a mind-set and in the use of physical measures. “Education and equipment are two separate issues. The latter you can buy, the former is in the mind and difficult to change.” There is, according to Baghdadi, enough water produced — with some provisos — by combining groundwater and desalination for the needs of Jeddah’s 2.8 million residents.
The Middle East is not Europe; climate and conditions here seem to demand a greater use of water. The per capita use of water in Europe is 149 liters a day (lpd) and surprisingly the average for Arab countries as a group was only 135 lpd in 1990 but is expected to be 206 lpd by 2030 (Middle East Center for the Transfer of Appropriate Technology — MECTAT). In Saudi Arabia per capita use is currently 280 lpd and in the UAE it soars to 378 lpd (Environment Middle East).
Climate is not the only factor; industrial development, tourism and “the greening of the desert” are major factors in the equation. In the specific case of Jeddah’s supply of water, according to Baghdadi, leakages in the distribution network, overuse and a poor local conservation ethic figure large.
Desalination plants provide most of Jeddah’s fresh water: 408,000 cubic meters per day (m3pd) from the Saline Water Conversion Corporation in Jeddah and 228,000 m3pd from Shuayba. Ground water — much of it from Wadi Fatima — contributes about 20-30 thousand m3pd. To give those numbers a more comprehensible form, the 650,000 m3pd output would be equal to the amount of water in a 520-kilometer line of ten-ton tankers — the distance from Riyadh to Dammam. At present, only 12 percent of Jeddah’s water is delivered by tanker; the balance comes through the pipe network where losses are estimated to be as high as 40 percent. “The honest answer is that we don’t actually know the exact quantity that is lost,” said Baghdadi. “There is a study under way which should give us a precise figure.”
Even with leakages, if the per capita consumption of water was brought down to European levels, through mechanical or educational means or as proposed through the introduction of a tariff, the amount of water produced would currently meet demand.
The conservation measures recently introduced by the minister for water — kits distributed free to consumers in Riyadh — have proved a cheap and very effective way of reducing consumption. “The beautiful thing about that is that the payback time is in days,” said Baghdadi.
A company hired to survey the effect of the simple kits and how many consumers were using them discovered that about 80 percent were doing so Kingdomwide. “In Riyadh we can see the difference, with fewer tankers on the streets,” said Baghdadi. “The kits can reduce water use by up to 50 percent or more. It can be as much as 70 percent.”
The habits of human being are more difficult to change. The kits or conservation tools are the easy bit. The difficult part is human habits. Baghdadi feels that water, because it is so incredibly cheap when delivered through the mains, has no value for the consumer and thus there is no inducement to conserve it. Although he cannot force conservation on the profligate consumers, “I can introduce a tariff,” he said.
He demonstrated his point with an example. One ten-ton tanker costs about SR60 to fill. To draw ten tons of water from the network, the consumer pays SR6. “Eighty eight percent of the consumers in Jeddah are on the network,” he said, “and they pay very little.”
For the equivalent of first five tankers full however, the consumer pays only SR5 or SR1 for one tanker-full; that is the price of one 330 ml can of soft drink for one tanker of water.
“The history of cheap water is that the government wanted to support people,” said Baghdadi. “So the subsidy was put in place. They also wanted certain groups of people to come and live in Jeddah — so they wanted water and services to be cheap. Now things have changed.”
About the development of the water distribution infrastructure, repairs to pipelines and the increase in capacity, Baghdadi was positive. “I think things will get much better. Our target for water supply is 24/7; we have no choice,” he said.
“The introduction of a tariff will add an incentive to consumers to conserve and give a measurable value to water. Currently, the only real incentive to save is with those who take water by tanker.”
