Right now Jeddah is in the grip of severe water shortage. Reports speak of hundreds of people standing in long lines at different water distribution points in the city over the past few weeks waiting for their turn to collect water. But there is no need for panic as Saudi authorities have been doing everything possible to tackle the problem. On Friday, Prince Khaled Al-Faisal, governor of Makkah, told residents that he has received assurances from officials in the National Water Company (NWC) and the Ministry of Water that the problem will be solved within four days. The current shortage has been attributed to a defect in Shuaibah desalination plants that feed Jeddah. The governor has announced a series of steps including the construction of strategic tanks to store water. Work on a tank with a capacity of 1.5 million cubic meters is already in progress. It will cost SR600 million. Two more tanks with the same capacity will be built soon, the governor said. Residents should also feel relieved by his announcement that the Jeddah desalination plant will start pumping about 240,000 cubic meters of water to the tanks in Al-Faisaliya. There are plans to set up new water loading locations at the Tahlia and Ain Al-Aziziah filling stations. Water shortages are not uncommon during summer months. The campaign launched by Saudi authorities against expatriates who violate residency regulations have exacerbated the situation as some drivers of water tankers, fearing arrests, are staying home. Still the current crisis should open our eyes to the need for protecting and better managing scarce water resources in the Kingdom. This means Jeddah shortages should be seen as part of a bigger challenge. The bigger challenge is how to prevent a possible water supply crisis in the Kingdom caused by rapid growth in population, steady expansion in the industrial sector and low water tariffs, as a study prepared by the largest bank in the Kingdom said last month. Saudi Arabia's population has grown at an average three percent annually over the past two decades and is expected to maintain that pace over the next five years, National Commercial Bank (NCB) said. While water consumption over the same period has fallen by approximately 1.5 percent annually, the demand for desalinated water has increased by more than double that of the population growth, at 6.27 percent. The study said average water tariffs in Saudi Arabia are among the lowest in the world. An average Saudi family pays less than $2 per month for water. At the same time, water use in the Kingdom is already almost double the per capita global average and increasing at an ever faster rate. According to a recent report, 60 percent of the water produced by desalination plants at huge costs is wasted through leakages in the system and inefficient use. Large amounts of water are also wasted when people leave the tap running while busy with some other activity. All this argue for an intensive review of the current water pricing system and an effective campaign to make the general public aware of the need for conserving water and avoiding wasting it through overuse or carelessness. There is also a convincing case to pass on more of the costs to the end-user to curb demand and reduce waste.
