The operation coincides with a decree issued by Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah on Monday, ordering the emptying of the lake within a year.
Suido Kiko Middle East, a Saudi-Japanese joint venture company, won the contract from Jeddah Development and Urban Regeneration Co. (JDURC) last month to construct and operate a pumping station for the lake, situated at Wadi Al-Asla east of Jeddah.
As per the contract, up to 10 pumps are to be installed by the lake, which is expected to be emptied within 300 days.
Nizar Kammourie, chief executive officer of Suido Kiko Middle East, said as part of the first phase of the operation, 20,000 cubic meters of sewage water would be transferred daily from the main lake to a pond and treated along with the other loads it receives from various parts of the city.
This process will continue for three months. During this time, two parallel pipelines connecting the lake to the plant will be laid.
“Once the parallel pipelines — each 900m long — are laid the second phase will start when we will double the pumping to 40,000 m3/day,” Kammourie said.
The lake contains 10 million cubic meters of water collected over the years. The treated water will be supplied to JDURC, which will use it for irrigation purposes in the Wadi Al-Asla area.
Suido Kiko built the wastewater treatment plant last year under a contract with the Jeddah Municipality.
It applies the most advanced sewage water treatment technology called MBR (membrane bio-reactor). This is said to be the largest facility of its kind in the entire Middle East and capable of treating sewage water to the point of making it “almost drinkable.”
The next step after draining out the lake water will be to remove the sludge, estimated to be something between 500,000 and one million cubic meters in size. It will take nearly a year to complete the job.
There will be a separate bid for this. According to Kammourie, his company will be one of the bidders once the tender is rolled out.
