RIYADH, 22 September 2005 — The Kingdom has saved SR1 billion in desalination costs in the past one year alone after 2.9 million water-saving kits were distributed to 80 percent consumers in the country as part of a national conservation campaign, Minister of Water and Electricity Abdullah Al-Hussayen said here yesterday.
The minister was speaking after launching the third phase of the conservation campaign. “The overall cost of the water kits distributed was SR50 million, but, as a result, we have already saved SR1 billion in terms of lost water,” the minister said. “These kits will not wear out in one or two years; they will last for years to come (saving billions of riyals in government spending).”
He said statistics compiled by international consultancy firms show that consumption has been cut down by at least 30 percent in the past year as a result of the campaign.
Some private institutions have reported up to 40 percent reduction in consumption after the water-saving devices were installed. “The Saudi-German Hospital in Madinah, for example, saved 130 cubic meters of water on a daily basis after using the kits,” he said. “The Movenpick Hotel in Madinah saved 96 cubic meters a day using the kits — a 42 percent reduction in consumption,” he added.
He said that 80 to 90 percent of the people who were given water-saving kits installed them after they understood the importance of saving water for future generations.
“In the Riyadh region, 84 percent of people who received the kits installed the device, while 85 percent installed them in Jeddah and 80 percent in Taif. The Asir region topped with more than 90 percent installations,” the minister said.
He said in the initial stage, the ministry did not expect the response to exceed 70 percent. “We assumed that even if only 70 percent of the people installed the kits, we could save 472,000 cubic meters of water a day which is more than the combined daily output of desalination plants in Jeddah, Yanbu and Sheqaiaq,” Al-Hussayen said.
The minister said 80 percent of all households in the country, where 17.5 million people live, have been supplied the water-saving kits in the first two phases of the campaign. More than 500 ministry employees participated in the drive, he added.
The minister said the third phase of the campaign will target the private sector which represents 20 percent of the entire domestic consumption.
The ministry is wrapping up negotiations to sign contracts with a number of international companies to privatize the water sector. The contracts will enable the ministry to cut down leakages from the water mains, which is put at 20 percent at present, to 5 percent — an additional daily saving of 700, 000 cubic meters.
Responding to a question from Arab News, the minister said recycling sewage water was “extremely important as its volume is increasing year after year. In three years, it will reach 4 million cubic meters per year.”
He said that sewage water is currently being used for agricultural purposes in Taif, Hofuf and Madinah regions.
About measures taken by the ministry to punish establishments that fail to fix leakages in their network, the minister said that this was a matter of serious concern. He said a fine of SR200 has already been imposed on people who fail to fix leakages in pipelines. The average amount of fines levied by the ministry has reached SR1 million a month.
The minister said Saudization in desalination plants was currently at 72 percent. A special training center in Jubail grants admissions to 200 high school and technical school graduates while the training center in Jeddah recruits 40 engineers every year.
The minister said that the Supreme Economic Council has given the private sector green light to build, own and operate four new desalination plants. These projects, he said, will produce 2.5 million cubic meters, which is 80 percent more than the current output.
The first of the new projects will be in Shuaiba, which will serve the regions of Makkah, Jeddah, Taif and part of Baha. The second project, in Shubaik, will serve the entire Asir region and Jizan. The third in Ras Al-Zawr will serve Riyadh, Al-Neiariya, Hafr Al-Batin and Al-Washm. And the fourth will serve the Eastern Province. The private sector will own 60 percent of these plants, the General Investment Fund, 32 percent and the Electricity Company, 8 percent.
Asked about supplying power to villages that still rely on private generators, the minister said the Kingdom has some 13,000 villages and towns, of which more 10,000 have been linked to the electricity network. “By 2007, God willing, electricity will reach the remaining towns and villages,” he said.
