Ibrahim Alawi Okaz/Saudi Gazette JEDDAH — Divers from the Border Guard and the Civil Defense ceased their search for an unconfirmed drowning of an Asian who disappeared while fishing in the Arbaeen Lake. The search lasted 14 hours, and covered an area of more than 20 meters in diameter, but no body was found. The Arbaeen Lake has witnessed many incidents during the past years. A vehicle carrying passengers was reported to have fallen into the lake. Search and rescue operations lasted for many days, but the vehicle was not found. The search was terminated after five days, as no missing person's reports were filed. In another incident, a man drowned when his vehicle fell into the lake after hitting another car. Despite the speedy arrival of divers to the site, the man died inside his car. An elderly Jeddah citizen said the lake used to be called the Mud Lake. It was located outside the old walled city, and provided a breather for Jeddah residents. Mud was extracted and used for buildings due to its cohesiveness. The Saudi Society for Environmental Science at King Abduaziz University has criticized the Jeddah municipality for installing large ventilation fans on the lake. The Society's president, Dr. As'ad Abu Rezaizah, called for a symposium to scientifically address the problem. Research conducted by the College of Marine Sciences pointed out that the ventilation fans add oxygen into the waters and help only in preventing the unpleasant smells. No solution has been adopted to stop the continuous inflow of sewage water into the lake. He added that the permanent solution is to stop the inflow and unloading of sewage into the lake. He said: “It seems to be a difficult solution, despite its simplicity and low cost. No convincing arguments are given for the reluctance to implement this simple solution.” Mohammad Saeed, a faculty member of the College of Marine Sciences, said filling the lake will create an environmental imbalance and result in environmentally choking the downtown Balad area. The municipality confirmed that it has undertaken many projects to deal with the 290,000 square meters lake. About 500,000 cubic meters of concrete protection was used, as per the studies conducted by the College of Marine Sciences. The municipality settled the arguments on filling the lake, with a project worth SR43 million to ventilate the lake. However, the cleaning operations were not in force yet. A citizen said the pumps installed to whirl the stagnant waters have not been functioning for a period of time, and the situation is worsening. He called upon the National Anti-Corruption Commission to intervene and investigate where the money went, while the situation remained as is.
