JUBAIL: Saudi Arabia being the largest producer of desalinated water in the world produces three million cubic meters daily, said Water and Electricity Minister Abdullah Al-Hussayen. He disclosed plans to modernize the Kingdom’s desalination plants.
“Desalinated water accounts for 55 to 60 percent of water supplied for public consumption,” the minister told reporters at a graduation ceremony at the training center for the Saline Water Conversion Corporation (SWCC) in Jubail.
He referred to the ministry’s efforts to reduce consumption of water and prevent leakages in pipelines, adding that these efforts would help save about 600,000 cubic meters of water daily. “Our campaigns to reduce water consumption and prevent leakages were successful,” he added.
Al-Hussayen said the corporation had stopped importing many spare parts for desalination plants after Saudi companies began producing them to a high standard. He said Marafiq would provide 500,000 cubic meters to the SWCC by the end of this year and would be pumped to Eastern Province cities.
Fehaid Al-Sharief, governor of the SWCC, said a team of experts was working on privatizing the organization. “The privatization plan will be ready within four months and will be presented to the Supreme Economic Council for its endorsement,” he said.
During the ceremony, Al-Hussayen congratulated 19 engineers and 38 operators and technicians who have completed specialized courses at the training center. He also commissioned three experimental desalination plants at SWCC’s Research Institute in Jubail. The first plant follows the reverse osmosis system while the second the Multi-Stage Flash (MSF) system and the third the Multi-Effect Distillation (MED) system.
Abdullah Al-Asheikh, deputy governor of the SWCC, said the training center was conducting a number of courses for engineers and technicians in operation and maintenance, computer science and English language.
“Our center serves not only SWCC employees but other workers as well,” said Bashar Al-Nahdi, its director.
