ALMIGHTY ALLAH has made water the basis for life. The Holy Qur'an says: "And we have made from water every living thing." More than 60 years ago, Jeddah had been hit by acute shortage of water. This prompted King Abdulaziz to issue an order to extend pipes to bring in water from Wadi Fatima, located around 70 km from Jeddah. The elderly people of Jeddah still recall the difficulties that they had faced to get drinking water in those days. There were huge tanks, called Sahareej, to preserve rainwater but this water was not pure and clean. There was also a distillation machine called "Al-Kandasah," to desalinate seawater. However, all these primitive facilities were quite inadequate to produce sufficient quantity of water required by the people in the city. It was also unaffordable for most of the inhabitants to buy water from the local market. Hence, bringing water from Wadi Fatima was considered as a turning point as far as this coastal city is concerned. With the rapid growth of population and expansion of the city, a situation emerged under which groundwater became quite insufficient to meet the needs of the city dwellers. Subsequently, the government started establishing desalination plants. Most of the coastal cities, and some of the landlocked cities in the Kingdom, rely now heavily on desalinated water. Until recently, the government collected water tariff, which amounted to a small portion of the actual cost for producing either desalinated water or groundwater, from the consumers. This eventually led to excessive consumption of water. However, the government has decided to cut short the subsidy that was given to fuel, electricity and water due to the fall in oil prices. There had been around 50 percent increase in the fuel prices. It was expected then that a similar increase in the electricity bills might come into force soon. However, a big blow came in the form of huge hike in water tariffs, ranging between 500 percent and 1,000 percent. Many columnists wrote in newspapers, prominent figures spoke in television programs and many others posted their comments on social media, criticizing this exorbitant increase. They even expressed doubt whether the increase had erroneously happened. Some of them tried to console themselves into believing that there might have been some mistakes made by those who prepare the water consumption bills. They pinned hopes on the fact that the concerned officials at the Ministry of Water and Electricity and the National Water Company (NWC) would come forward with clarifications, reassuring the people that what had happened was due to some mistakes on the part of their staff and these would be rectified. But what happened was contrary to all these hopes and expectations. The minister, who appeared in a television program aired by Al-Majd Television, was firm in the decision on the hike in tariff, apparently unaffected by the concerns shared by the public. He started talking about the scarcity of water, particularly in the Kingdom. He also spoke about the wastage in the consumption of water, saying that the average individual consumption of water in the Kingdom is more than double of the global consumption. He also quoted from the Holy Qur'an and Tradition of the Prophet (Hadith) that warn against extravagance in general and in the case of water, in particular. The minister emphasized that the ordinary consumers are not going to be affected by the hike in tariff if they resort to rationalization in the consumption of water. He also pointed out that if the amount of increased water bills were divided among members of the family, it wouldn't exceed the amount spent for making mobile phone calls. He attributed siphoning as the major cause of an increase in water consumption. The television broadcaster, who interviewed the minister, asked the minister several questions that were logical. The minister tried to skip from giving direct answer to them but on the other hand tried to give some explanations and comparisons, which were not precise and comprehensible. The interviewer drew the minister's attention to the criticism leveled by some members of the Shoura Council against the unjustifiable hike made by the ministry and NWC in water tariffs. The broadcaster also noted that the chairman of the water committee at the Council denied reports that the hike in water tariffs had come up for discussion in the Council, and that the Council had favored a hike in water tariffs. The minister's reply for this was that any hike in water tariff does not require the consent of the Shoura Council. The minister ignored the fact that the major cause for the overconsumption of water is the presence of swimming pools and gardens in big houses. He did not say anything on how the ministry and NWC would deal with the issue of excessive consumption of water by swimming pools. The minister's new finding about siphoning has come under sarcasm and ridicule on social networking sites as well as at clubs and other gatherings of people. It is obvious that there could be some hike in the water bills, and even a 100 percent increase is reasonable. But the exorbitant hike exceeding 500 percent is unacceptable and unjustifiable. It would have been ideal for the ministry to make a reasonable hike in water tariffs and then carry out an awareness and rationalization campaign, and then make another reasonable hike after some time so that the new tariffs can meet the production cost of water. The consumer would be ready to accept such an approach as it could be affordable to him. The new hike is quite unaffordable for the people with limited income as water is the basic necessity for every living being and it is not at all included among luxurious products that people can dispense with. — Dr. Ali Al-Ghamdi is a former Saudi diplomat who specializes in Southeast Asian affairs. He can be reached at [email protected]
