Saudi Arabia has known desalinated water for eighty years through the process of condensation to distill sea water in 1928 when late King Abdulaziz bin Abdulrahman Al Saud ordered the establishment of two units of condensation to distill seawater to supply Jeddah with more drinking water. Then, the initial stages of water desalination were established in each of the provinces Alwajh and Theba which located on the Red Sea Coast in1389 with a production capacity of 60 thousand gallons of water a day for each station which was followed by a desalination plant in Jeddah in 1390. On 20 August 1394, a Royal Decree was issued for the establishment of the Saline Water Conversion Corporation(SWCC). After the royal decree, the desalination of seawater was expanded and developed. SWCC started its works by establishing single-purpose plants to produce desalinated water only or bilateral purpose plants to produce water and electricity. --More
