It's truly an astonishing scene for anyone driving past: the deep green of plants and flowers of nurseries and farms and then the shock of the unmistakable stench of raw sewage used to water these plants. Residents say the pools of stinking water has been formed as a result of a “secret” agreement between water tanker drivers who transport sewage to Misk Lake and the owners of these shops, who believe that watering their plants with unprocessed sewage water “will not harm anybody”. “These plants are used as decoration in houses and public sites and not as food,” said an expatriate farmer running one of the nurseries. However, agricultural engineers say this is a harmful practice which has led the mayoralty to impose fines on any shops that are found to have watered their plants with raw sewage water. Muhammad Al-Ghamdi, who has been a resident of the area for four years, said that residents are suffering because of the smell and the spread of mosquitoes. “This way, the farmers water their farms at a reduced cost because sewage is considered to be an alternative to fertilizers,” Al-Ghamdi said. “When you walk around our neighborhood the stench is so strong you cannot appreciate the sight of the farms nearby.” Agricultural engineer Khaled Labeeb said doctors have warned people against eating vegetables watered by wastewater “which means that flowers watered in the same way are full of bacteria,” he said. He said nurseries are only allowed to use recycled water, even when watering plants used to decorate people's homes and public places. Nursery Inspector Ahmad Kawari said that some dissolved elements in sewage water “can be very harmful to plants. Sewage water contains small, hard materials that can block soil capillary. It also might contain seeds of harmful weeds”. The mayoralty here is taking measures to curb watering with polluted water. It has banned the use of untreated sewage in the watering of municipal plants and has only allowed treated water, with several conditions. Using sewage water must be done with a permit no matter how pure the water is, he said.
