JEDDAH, 20 June 2006 — Water authorities in the city are considering a move to sharply increase the fines imposed on building owners who install illegal pumping systems to draw more water for their tenants, Al-Watan newspaper reported yesterday. The current fine is SR1,000.
The new fine would increase exponentially for each repeat offense. “First-time offenders would be fined SR1,000, second-timers would be fined SR2,000. Each repetition of the violation would call for doubling the fine paid at the previous instance,” said Abdul Rahman Al-Muhammadi, director of water projects in Jeddah.
The system is aimed at dissuading building owners that are willing to pay SR1,000 each time they get caught to assure tenants a constant, if illegal, flow of water in water-strapped regions of the city.
The idea to increase the fine has come as city officials have noticed an increase in the number of incidences of illegal pumping from the water mains.
Al-Muhammadi said his officials regularly shut down illegal motor pumps during routine inspections and servicing. The water supply has been further inconvenienced by the ongoing public works.
In an ongoing and massive project, the city is currently replacing its septic tank-based sewage system with sewage lines.
Another problem with the city’s water consumption is among immigrant tenants who live in overcrowded conditions.
A tenant in Al-Salama district told Al-Watan that the water shortage in his building appeared for first time since he began living there 10 years ago when some Indian families moved into a flat a couple of weeks ago.
Ahmad Al-Sabahi said when the other tenants in the building began to experience severe shortage of water they made some discrete inquiries and found that 10 families were sharing a four-room apartment meant for one family.
They had installed huge plastic containers to collect and store water in their rooms denying water to other tenants in the building, Al-Sabahi said.
This forced tenants in the other apartments to buy rooftop water-tank systems, the man said.
Muhammad ibn Rashid, a tenant in the Aziziah district, said the water in his building began running out periodically three days after some Indian workers moved in to the building.
He said some of the old tenants left the building fearing water shortage in future. He said that 22 workers were packed in three rooms of a basement apartment in his building.
In related news, municipal authorities on Sunday caught several illegal water vendors, Al-Watan reported. The drivers were fined SR5,000 apiece and the trucks were seized.
The officials also caught a number of drivers cheating customers by selling regular tap water branded as bottled drinking water.
