RIYADH: The completion of the three-year study on the Red Sea Water Lifeline Project, part of the Saudi-Japanese Master Plan on renewable water resources development in the Kingdom, will lead to the effective and independent sharing of water through a network of pipelines in the southwest region of the Kingdom, said Ryuichi Tomzawa, resident representative of the Riyadh chapter of the Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA). JICA officials will present the Master Plan Study on Renewable Water Resources to Mohammed Al-Saud, Deputy Minister of Water Affairs, Ministry of Water and Electricity, in a ceremony Sunday in Riyadh. Tomzawa said the study launched in July 2007 was a joint effort of Japanese experts and researchers in cooperation with their Saudi counterparts from the Ministry of Water and Electricity (MOWE). The team of experts has conducted the necessary investigations and field surveys through the monitoring stations set up in the target areas, he added. “The Saudi-Japanese team (of experts) can execute the joint study launched in July 2007 that covered about 400,000 square kilometers in Makkah, Al-Baha, Asir, Jizan and Najran,” Tomzawa said. Water levels and velocity of water flow were measured in each of the areas covered by the study, he explained. Proper management of dams and reservoirs is required to control the water levels and flow rates, Tomzawa said, while revealing some of the findings of the study. He said that the Red Sea Water Lifeline Project study proposed the adoption and development of each independent water resource through a network of pipelines. He said the National Water Resources Corporation will be tasked with implementing the study findings.“Unlike factory-produced desalinated seawater, the implementation of the study findings will allow Saudi Arabia to effectively utilize renewable water resources,” he said. MOWE and the Japanese government through JICA have developed a strategy to ensure water security in the desert and arid areas of the Kingdom. The Master Plan on Renewal Water Resources is aimed at developing sustainable water resources that are able to meet the water demands of people and industries in the Kingdom, Tomzawa said. He said the increase in the Saudi population, urbanization and industrialization has increased the need to look for effective measures that address the issue of water scarcity in the Kingdom.
