JEDDAH: Several Shoura Council members have criticized the Ministry of Water, Environment and Agriculture of failing to measure water consumption by citizens and industry to determine tariffs, and not connecting many parts of the Kingdom to the national network.
Shoura member Hatem M. Al-Marzouqi described the manner in which the ministry had calculated consumption as “unintelligent.” He was speaking during a study of the 2014/2015 annual report of the ministry produced by the Shoura’s committee on water, agriculture and environment, a local publication reported.
“What the ministry has cited in its report is inaccurate. Saudi citizens are not that extravagant and wasteful. It had first claimed that water consumption per capita stood at 250 liters, then 265 liters and a third time it said it was 380 liters. This is not reasonable. This is why many mistakes were made when the new tariffs were applied,” he said.
Al-Marzouqi said the ministry blamed citizens for the high consumption but did not take into account the volume consumed by factories and government bodies. The ministry should have installed water meters to accurately measure consumption. In addition, he said that the ministry had announced more than six years ago that it would build a water desalination plant in Al-Khafji, but this has not materialized.
Another member, Fahd bin Juma, said that tariffs should be restructured, with rich people with large houses charged more. Member Jubran Al-Qahtani said the ministry should set up three companies that can draw water from desalination and ground sources, transport the water to distribution companies, and deal with customers.
Member Abdullah Al-Fifi said that the ministry had built several expensive dams that were now useless and have become infested with insects and prone to leaks and causing floods. He said these dams and giant desalination plants failed to connect large parts of the country to the water network.
He said water security was one of the basic requirements of citizens and it was not acceptable that some schools, government and private facilities were dependent on water reservoirs filled with rainwater, and that there were some people forced to take water from polluted streams in the country’s valleys.
The members praised the Ministry of Defense for the transparency of its report. The Shoura discussed the recommendations submitted by the security affairs committee on the ministry’s 2014/2015 annual report filed by the head of the committee Abdullah Al-Sadoon.
Shoura member Hatem M. Al-Marzouqi described the manner in which the ministry had calculated consumption as “unintelligent.” He was speaking during a study of the 2014/2015 annual report of the ministry produced by the Shoura’s committee on water, agriculture and environment, a local publication reported.
“What the ministry has cited in its report is inaccurate. Saudi citizens are not that extravagant and wasteful. It had first claimed that water consumption per capita stood at 250 liters, then 265 liters and a third time it said it was 380 liters. This is not reasonable. This is why many mistakes were made when the new tariffs were applied,” he said.
Al-Marzouqi said the ministry blamed citizens for the high consumption but did not take into account the volume consumed by factories and government bodies. The ministry should have installed water meters to accurately measure consumption. In addition, he said that the ministry had announced more than six years ago that it would build a water desalination plant in Al-Khafji, but this has not materialized.
Another member, Fahd bin Juma, said that tariffs should be restructured, with rich people with large houses charged more. Member Jubran Al-Qahtani said the ministry should set up three companies that can draw water from desalination and ground sources, transport the water to distribution companies, and deal with customers.
Member Abdullah Al-Fifi said that the ministry had built several expensive dams that were now useless and have become infested with insects and prone to leaks and causing floods. He said these dams and giant desalination plants failed to connect large parts of the country to the water network.
He said water security was one of the basic requirements of citizens and it was not acceptable that some schools, government and private facilities were dependent on water reservoirs filled with rainwater, and that there were some people forced to take water from polluted streams in the country’s valleys.
The members praised the Ministry of Defense for the transparency of its report. The Shoura discussed the recommendations submitted by the security affairs committee on the ministry’s 2014/2015 annual report filed by the head of the committee Abdullah Al-Sadoon.
