Fish contaminated with bacteria and poisonous heavy metals are reportedly being illegally smuggled out of Jeddah's infamous sewage lake and put on sale to unwary consumers in local fish markets posing a potential hazard to human life, according to the Ministry of Agriculture. The fish were originally introduced into the large wastewater lake in east Jeddah by the Ministry in an attempt to destroy the larvae producing dengue fever, and with this as their main food supply, the fish are also riddled with these unhealthy organisms. The Ministry in conjunction with the Jeddah Chamber of Commerce and Industry has opened a special office staffed with technically qualified personnel at the city's central fish market to provide services to fishermen and to detect fishing violations including the sale of fish raised in the unhealthy water. Despite the office's attempts to educate both fishermen and consumers about the danger of buying and selling fish reared in the toxic lake, some fishermen persist in defying the Ministry's regulations. A large number of trucks loaded with contaminated fish have been intercepted, and some expatriates continue to fish in the lake. Apart from the health hazards being posed by the potential consumption of contaminated fish by unsuspecting consumers, there is growing concern about the rising water level of the sewage lake which, according to some reports, has already reached a dangerously high 10 meters. Residents in the districts adjoining the lake fear that the entire dirt structure could collapse with disastrous consequences for them. Hesham Abdin, environmental expert at Jeddah Municipality and Secretary General of the Municipal Council, criticized the municipality's handling of the problem, noting that it had allocated SR1 billion to build entertainment parks while ignoring critically important projects. Abdin proposed that the dam be reinforced to prevent it from collapsing and that an alternative location for dumping sewage water be selected in coordination with the Saudi Geological Survey. He also called for increasing the capacity of the treatment plant located next to the lake and using the treated water for industrial purposes. In a meeting last Monday, the Jeddah Municipal Council urged speedy endorsement of a SR100 million budget to address the problems posed by the vast wastewater lake. Khaled Aqeel, Vice Mayor of Jeddah, said, “We will act promptly to lower the water table.” Higher consumption One of the reasons for the rise, he said, was due to increased water consumption. More than 4,000 trucks dump sewage water into the lake everyday since the new barge that desalinates 30,000 cubic meters of Red Sea water daily has become operative. Aqeel said that the Water and Sanitary Drainage Authority would divert a percentage of these trucks to the treatment plant in Al-Khumra which now has a new dumping site capable of receiving 30,000 cubic meters per day. He was positive that these problems would end once the ongoing sanitary project in Jeddah is completed. However, apart from the issue of the rising water level and its apparent causes, there is still the question of whether or not the dam, which is the only thing that protects the city from being inundated with wastewater, has cracks and whether it is susceptible to seepage which can endanger nearby areas. On the one hand, Dr. Abdulghaffar Bin Azhari Nawawi, assistant mayor of Jeddah for Cleanliness and the Environment, rules out the possibility that there are cracks in the dam itself, but he admits that sewage may be seeping out from the opening between the dam and the hills containing the lake. Nawawi added that the construction specifications of the protective concrete dam are among the best possible, making it scientifically impossible for cracks to appear. Mohammad Bukhari, an engineer representating the private sector at the Water Research Center of Jeddah's King Abdulaziz University, on the other hand, claims to have proof of the existence of “real cracks” threatening the dam. “All the former mayors of Jeddah have disregarded reports issued on the dam and the solutions offered,” he said, affirming that the “mayoralty does not care for science and scientists,” the proof being that it has ignored everything that has been written about the risks posed by the sewage lake and dam. He added that the dam is nothing but dirt covered with a layer of cement and that leaking does not take place from the top but from underneath due to the fact that no geological studies were carried out before its construction. “I have a map showing the cracks in the rocks located at the base of the dam. These should have been sealed off before the wastewater was ever allowed to leak out into the nearby areas,” he said. – With reports from Al
