Background
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia made a strategic decision in the early 1970s with the intention of achieving the diversification of its economic base by developing two major petrochemicals based industrial cities: Jubail on the Arabian Gulf and Yanbu on the Red Sea. In order to implement this decision, an independent financial and administrative controlling autonomous government authority was established in September 1975 with the title of "The Royal Commission for Jubail and Yanbu" (RCJY) under the supervision of a chairman and a board of directors. Since then the RCJY has been operating through its headquarters in Riyadh with two separate full-fledged directorates, one in each city. The RCJY was entrusted with full responsibility for the development of infrastructure, management and operation of residential, commercial and industrial base in Jubail and Yanbu industrial cities.
Since inception, the main goal of the Royal Commission has been to make Jubail and Yanbu industrial cities models of environmental planning as well as productive manufacturing centers so as to develop a sustainable environmental friendly industrial and commercial base in both cities without compromising the environment and the public health.
In order to achieve this target, RCJY established the Environmental Control Department (ECD) that is managed under the directorate general administration offices of the Royal Commission in Jubail and in Yanbu, respectively. An Environmental Health Section (EHS) is also being supervised by the Department of Property at Jubail and Yanbu, respectively.
The ECDs and EHSs of Jubail and Yanbu (there are offices for both in each city) have planned and carried out their activities to achieve three main interrelated targets:
• Development of Royal Commission Environmental Regulations (RCER), and Public Health Codes (RCPHC) with an enforcement mechanism for implementation
• Development of a comprehensive program to monitor industrial and commercial activities and their impacts on all environmental factors as well as to check that the industrial and commercial facilities comply with RCER and RCPHC.
• Development of a permit program to monitor the steady growth of industrial and commercial bases without the adverse impacts on the environmental and public health
In the early phase of the development Environmental Impact Assessments (EIA) were carried out to study short and long-term effects of rapid industrializations on the ecosystem of both cities. Based on the EIA results, several measures were implemented during the planning, designing and constructing of the infrastructure of both cities.
During the development of infrastructure of Jubail and Yanbu, the design criteria have been enforced that conform to the highest international environmental standards. In both cities, two separate wastewater treatment plants-one to treat sanitary wastewater and other one for treatment of industrial wastewater-were constructed and have been operating since the beginning. Similarly, the RC developed and constructed sanitary landfill areas in both cities. A compost plant was also constructed in Yanbu, where domestic, commercial and industrial (non-hazardous and biodegradable) solid wastes are being treated to produce compost to utilize in horticulture activities. In addition, the RC encouraged private entrepreneurs to develop waste-disposal facilities where hazardous and non-hazardous industrial waste could be treated and disposed off safely inside the city. As result, a private waste disposal facility has been fully established and operative in Jubail for a long time, where operations, such as incineration, pretreatment, stabilization, evaporation and land filling, are being carried out effectively for hazardous and non-hazardous industrial wastes. Another private waste disposal facility with similar activities has also been established in Yanbu.
Following the planning targets, the ECDs of Jubail and Yanbu developed and enforced RCER that are comparable to prevailing international environmental norms to regulate the industrial activities. Similarly, EHSs formulated RCPHC in order to regulate, mainly, the commercial activities in both cities. The RCER and RCPHC have, continuously, been revised from time to time to appropriately reflect the current needs and, the latest technical advances. Recently, updated versions of environmental regulations and public health codes titled as RCER-2004 and RCPHC-2005 have been implemented. The salient features of these documents are summarized as follows.
RC Environmental Regulations (RCER)
The RCER-2004 consists of two volumes: the first one includes all regulations, standards and guidelines required to operate an industrial facility in such a manner so as to protect the environment and public heath from the adverse impacts. The second one provides the details of procedures relating to RC Environmental Permit Program, dealing steps to be followed by industries to obtain Environmental Permits from RC to construct and to operate the facilities. RC regulations and standards follow the general guidelines and standards for the environmental protection provided by the Presidency of Meteorology and Environment (PME) implemented throughout the Kingdom.
The RCER-2004, Volume I, includes 312 regulations covering areas like Air Quality (58 articles), Water Quality (54 articles), Hazardous Material Management (47 articles), Hazardous Waste Management including solid waste (82 articles), and others articles (71) regulating dredging activities, noise pollution and other miscellaneous general activities. The general regulations deal with the RC policy statements regarding the requirements for getting mandatory RC environmental permits to construct and operate an industrial facility, applying Best Available Techniques (BAT) concept in designing, operating and maintaining the facility, monitoring and record keeping of all required regulatory environmental parameters etc.
In Volume II of RCER-2004, the details of procedures relating to RC Environmental Program are provided. Accordingly, a new industrial facility or modification to existing facility cannot be started without the prior permission from the RC. The operator of the proposed facility submits to the RC complete details about environmental related data associated with the industry. The permits to construct and to operate new industry or to allow expansion in the existing industry are issued to the operator of the industry after thorough assessment of potential adverse impacts of the proposed new facility or the proposed modification to existing facility on the environment. The strict permit program has ensured the steady growth of environmental friendly industrial base in both cities.
In 2007, RCJY Board of Directors has approved the Volume III of RC Environmental Regulations that deals the RC Penalty System. The compliance with environmental regulations is essential in protecting public health and the environment. While voluntary compliance is desirable, the Environmental Penalty Scheme has been designed to supplement such compliance and ensure compliance with regulations to further assist in accomplishing the goals of the Royal Commission by deterring violations and encouraging voluntary compliance with the Environmental Regulations.
RC Public Health Code (RCPHC)-2005
The main objective of development and implementation of Public Health Code is to regulate commercial activities in both industrial cities to ensure the safety, health and welfare of the public at large. Regulations, specifications and guidelines are provided in RCPHC, which are required during the designing, operating and maintaining commercial facilities such as food establishments (all types), milk and milk products processing, ice processing, bottled beverages, food processing, slaughterhouses and meat processing, fish processing, swimming and spa pools, barber and beauty shops, laundries and laundry depots etc.
The RCPHC requires that without a valid operating permit issued by the Royal Commission, a commercial facility cannot be established. The RCPHC has made mandatory for all workers of the establishments, particularly food handlers, barbers and others to attend a health training programs to obtain health certificates. The Royal Commission in the Environmental Health Training Centers established in both cities organizes these training programs. In these training programs, the participants are trained and made them aware for food safety, hygienic practices and techniques relating to Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP). Besides getting "Health Certificates", it is mandatory for all the employees to get medically examined thoroughly by a physician authorized by RC before starting employment in any commercial establishment. Health cards having a recent photograph, signed and stamped by the RC are required to wear by all the employees working in the commercial facilities.
Monitoring and Surveillance Program
Industrial Activities
A comprehensive program has been developed and established in Jubail and Yanbu industrial cities to monitor continuously the ambient air quality, characteristics of gaseous emissions and effluent discharges from industrial entities, quality of coastal, potable and ground water, hazardous and non-hazardous waste management, noise level and other important environmental factors. Routine periodic reports are prepared for ECDs to analyze the overall state of the environment of both cities, so that remedial measures are urgently applied in case of need.
A number of air monitoring stations (seven fixed and two mobile in Jubail and five fixed and one mobile in Yanbu) have been installed at various strategic sites in both cities. These stations are equipped with the most advanced instruments available in the international market. Each station can measure up to 30 compounds. Data from the stations are transmitted wirelessly every 5 minutes - 24 hours a day to a central computer and analyzed and checked by a team of specialists. For more than twenty years these stations have been monitoring ambient air quality and collecting meteorological data.
Similarly, several water quality-monitoring stations (thirteen in Jubail and ten in Yanbu) have been installed to monitor the water quality near the coast and offshore of Gulf and Red Sea. Samples from several depths are collected regularly to analyze in the ECD Environmental laboratory for the assessment of the quality of the coastal waters. These labs are equipped with most advanced water analysis instruments like Inductive Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrophotometers, Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometers, Gas Chromatographs, High Performance Liquid Chromatographs, Total Organic Carbon Analyzer etc.
A comprehensive monitoring program is also developed and implemented to monitor ground water quality in both cities. Several samples of ground water collected from bore holes, located in the vicinity of industrial processes, waste management facilities (land fills), drainage channels and storage tanks, are analyzed regularly for a number of parameters including heavy metals and organic compounds. The main purpose to monitor ground water quality is for early detection of contaminants in order to introduce mitigation measures immediately to prevent degradation of natural groundwater.
Potable water is also regularly analyzed for its quality as per RCER standards. Samples of potable water are collected from random spots of residential, commercial and industrial areas as well as from those facilities which are involved in water treatment and distribution services including desalination plants and mineral water suppliers.
Municipal and Industrial solid and liquid wastes (hazardous and non-hazardous) have been managed in sanitary landfills and waste disposal facilities effectively through these regulations in Jubail and Yanbu cities. The Royal Commission, through regular inspection of industrial facilities including the waste disposal facilities, has been able to monitor each step of waste management i.e generation, storage, handling and transportation and final disposal of waste being generated in each facility.
An Emergency Response Plan (ERP) has been developed and implemented by the RC to facilitate early detection of oil, chemical spills in order to protect recreational beaches and important operations such as the cooling water canal and the intake to the desalination plants. Computer based guidelines packages have also been developed and are available, which include the assessment of the risks posed by the hazardous substances used in the Jubail and Yanbu industrial cities and corresponding emergency response instructions tailored to suit the specific industries.
Noise monitoring program has also been developed and conducted throughout the year in both cities by measuring noise levels periodically at the perimeter of industrial sites and within the residential areas in order to ensure that noise levels are compliant with Royal Commission Environmental Regulations and Standards as well as to safeguard the comfort and welfare of residential community.
Monitoring of coastal marine environmental has been an integral part of the Royal Commission environmental program. In order to protect the marine ecosystem, a monitoring program has been developed and enforced, which involves taking samples of marine flora and fauna from different locations of near shore areas at various depths and analyzing in the lab for physical, chemical and biological environmental parameters. Examination of bioaccumulation (i.e uptake and accumulation in the tissues of marine community) of heavy metals and chemicals in clams and mangroves etc has been a part of various studies conducted during the monitoring program.
The Royal Commission has declared some areas in Jubail and Yanbu to be conservation areas to protect wildlife ecosystem, where industrial and commercial development are completely prohibited. These areas are specially protected, maintained and regularly inspected to check on any illicit activities, if any. Sabkhat Al-Fasl area in Jubail and three areas of mangroves in Yanbu have been declared as conservation areas.
Commercial Activities
An integrated and a comprehensive program has been developed by the Royal Commission to monitor commercial facility from its initial phase of planning, designing, and construction to its operation and maintenance phase in order to ensure that the facility is complaint with the regulations and specifications provided in the RCPHC.
Regular and random inspection is conducted by the Health Inspectors of Royal Commission to all of the establishments including, food stores, restaurants, mobile and temporary food services and vending machines, milk and milk processing units, ice processing units, beverage producing units, fish market, slaughter-houses and meet processing units, barber and beauty shops, laundries and recreational centers like swimming and spa pools etc. During the inspection, it is made sure that the facility is compliant with the RCPHC, particularly to ensure that the employees and customers are safe from all type of health hazards, including that the employees are following hygienic principles in providing services to the customers.
Samples from suspected food from food facilities are collected and sent to RC labs for microbiological and chemical testing. Slaughterhouses are also regularly inspected by the RC staff as well as by veterinarian for ante-mortem and post-mortem examinations of animals and later on their meat. Water samples from the facilities including recreational units like swimming and spa pools are also collected randomly and periodically and analyzed for microbiological and chemical parameters.
These regular inspections help to make the commercial activity safe and to protect the community from the spread of communicable diseases.
Environmental Awareness Program
The Royal Commission organizes periodically environmental awareness lectures, workshops, seminars, meetings and exhibitions for the public at large as well as for the workers of industrial and commercial facilities. The Environmental Control Departments of Jubail and Yanbu have established a permanent Environmental Exhibition Hall that is used as part of the environmental awareness program. Both the exhibition and the environmental laboratories are visited by students and by the public on regular basis.
Conclusions
Strict adherence to the Royal Commission policies, environmental protection and public health programs from the very beginning have made Jubail and Yanbu Industrial Cities as model cities, demonstrating that industrial development and a healthy and safe environment can coexist.
In recognition of the successful environmental programs, the Royal Commission received several international awards: United Nations' Sasakawa Award (1988), Kuwait-based Regional Organization for the Protection of Marine Environment Award (1988), the Arab Cities Award for Environmental Protection (1995), the Arab League Award in the field of Environmental Awareness (1998), Arab-European Cooperation Centre at Berlin-Environmental Protection Award (2002), Arab Cities Organization for Environmental Protection Award (2003) and Organization of Arabic Cities- Environmental Awareness Award (2007).
