JEDDAH: The measuring scale at Misk Lake no longer serves any purpose as the lake has been completely drained of water. Misk Lake, which used to be the dumping ground for Jeddah's sewage waste, was emptied in October. It is now being rehabilitated and prepared for integration with the Eastern Forest. All sewage water from the lake has been diverted to the neighboring treatment plant which is operating overtime to clean the water. On Sunday, Saudi Gazette saw workers and machinery flattening the land of what used to be the lake bed and preparing it for the planting of trees. Trucks, bulldozers and other machinery could be seen clearing the land. The authorities are building a road to provide easy access for vehicles and machinery from the top to the bottom of the reservoir. According to workers present at the site, the fertilizer required to begin planting has arrived. Sewage trucks continue to dump the city's sewage into the on-site treatment plant which has a daily pumping capacity of 250,000 cubic meters. The treatment plant is run under the supervision of the National Water Company (NWC). The treated water is either sold for industrial purposes or used for irrigating the Eastern Forest. The area around Misk Lake will be an essential part of the Eastern Forest which is being developed to sustain 12 unique species of trees indigenous to this region of the Kingdom. There is a plan to create a mega park project in the Al-Asla Valley, 25 km east of Jeddah. The proposed national park, the first of its kind in the Jeddah region, will take 15 years to complete and is expected to contain a university, research center, hotels, golf courses, forests, wetlands and 15,000 residential units.
