JEDDAH, 24 December 2006 — Higher authorities in the Kingdom are currently studying an SR20 billion water bank project to meet the country’s growing water requirements.
According to Muhammad Habeeb Al-Bukhari, an expert at the Water Research Center of King Abdul Aziz University in Jeddah, the project is designed to meet local water requirements for the next 21 years.
Bukhari, who has participated in preparing a study on the project, said it would be carried out in the southern Tihama region that receives a lot of rainwater and has suitable locations to establish underground dams to store water closer to Makkah, Jeddah, Taif, Madinah, Baha and Abha regions that require a large supply of potable water.
He said the government thought of this cheaper alternative after finding desalination costly and damaging to the environment. There is also difficulty in supplying spare parts required by the Kingdom’s desalt plants on the Red Sea and Arabian Gulf. The government has already spent more than SR50 billion on desalt plants in the past years.
Bukhari said the water bank project would be more conducive than the national water company, which requires a capital investment of SR40 billion.
The company, according to a decision taken by the Supreme Economic Council, will provide all services related to ground water sector, distribution of drinking water, and collection and treatment of sewage water on a commercial basis.
“The water bank project is significant for the Hijaz region as it lacks groundwater,” Bukhari said. He hoped that the water bank would replace the water company, as the latter is feasible and less expensive. The new budget has not made any allocation for the water company, he pointed out, adding that no scientific study has been carried out on the company.
However, he did not favor establishment of more dams in valleys as they could develop cracks and require regular maintenance.
Australian scientist Peter Dillon has recommended underground dams as a solution to the water problem. “Our research shows we can pump water into the underground aquifers during the wet season and take it out again during the dry season or whenever it is needed,” he said.
“It’s is cheaper to store water underground than to spend tens of millions of dollars constructing a dam on the surface. The minimum economic storage volume is several orders of magnitude smaller than surface dams and you only need to store enough to match demand,” he pointed out. “As aquifers are far more common than good dam sites, you can locate the water supply much closer to the community or industry that uses it.”
The environmental impact of underground storage is also far lower, provided the storage aquifer has been carefully chosen to avoid leakage into other aquifers and pressures are managed correctly.
Minister of Electricity and Water Abdullah Al-Hussayen has disclosed plans to construct an underground dam in Najran to block the subterranean flow of water. He made this disclosure while launching a SR400 million project to pump potable water from Al-Rub Al-Khali (the Empty Quarter) to the southern Najran region.
Al-Rub Al-Khali showed indications of considerable groundwater resources, said professor Muhammad Sultan of Western Michigan University after visiting the area recently.
Saudi Arabia consumes 230 liters per capita daily, compared with 150 liters in Europe. According to predictions from the Central Department of Statistics, the Kingdom’s total population will exceed 29 million by 2010 and rise to 36.4 million 10 years later. Taking a baseline consumption of 300 liters per person per day, the resulting demand for water will increase to over 3,000 million cubic meters per year by 2010.
The Kingdom will need a capital investment averaging nearly $2 billion per year for the next 20 years to meet projected water demand.
