RIYADH — Over consumption of fresh water has become a major issue in the GCC, compounded by a population increase that's more than 2% a year, said Bassem Halabi, Group Business Development Director at Metito – a leading provider of total intelligent water management and solutions in the emerging markets. He said Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates consume 91% and 83% more water than the global average on a per capita basis, citing a study by Booz & Company. Moreover, Qatar and Oman are also above the global average for water consumption, he added. “This is worrying, so active measures must be taken to ensure the trend is reversed,” the Metito director said on the sidelines of the 10th edition Saudi Water and Power Forum in Riyadh. Asked about the main challenges in dealing with the situation in the region, Halabi said since the region is demographically” enveloped in a period of fairly extensive changes, all of which will have major implications on water governance,” then the regional population growth will increase water demand for irrigation, industrial development, and domestic usage, further pressuring the surrounding countries to ensure that an ample flow of water downstream is available year round.” Desalination is often the solution, However, “this presents difficulties due to its high cost, energy intensive nature and current processes which are also not particularly green. Therefore there's pressure to innovate and improve processes to make it more feasible and eco-friendly.” Desalination provides most of the potable water used in the UAE, Kuwait, Qatar and Bahrain, and as such, it will continue to play a huge role in the GCC's water development efforts, he further said. But desalination carries significant economic and environmental costs and remains a relatively expensive way of producing potable water. Nonetheless, water reuse and recycling is the future, the Metito director averred. “They are the most appropriate and effective ways to build a sustainable water supply. The economics of treating and recycling water on site is much more cost-effective and viable than treating fresh water at source and going through the logistics and cost of bringing it elsewhere for consumption.” He noted the growing trend to embrace such solutions particularly for agriculture/irrigation and industrial applications. Metito is a major advocate of this trend and has been taking serious steps to find new, intelligent solutions and technologies to support this move, he pointed out. Asked about his projection in the water sustainability and desalination development over the coming years, he cited the Global Water Market report 2014 which noted that the growing economy and per capita usage levels, combined with the lack of natural water resources, showed that the UAE was one of the earliest and most enthusiastic adopters of desalination on a mass scale. As in all Gulf countries, desalination seems to be the only way forward to provide the initial fresh water, but an increase in wastewater recycling initiatives is a critical addition for all Gulf countries moving forward, including Saudi Arabia, he stressed. “It is predicted the trend for water reuse for industrial applications will also grow and we will see significant investments made in this sector. There are several growth industries that Metito sees for industrial water reuse in Saudi Arabia, in particular, including the oil & gas and petrochemical sectors. These are quite water intensive, and water reuse solutions will help maintain and even improve efficiencies while reducing the consumption of valuable fresh water,” Halabi explained. Metito was recently also awarded in consortium with Al-Arrab Contracting Company the turnkey execution of an industrial WWTP for one of new Industrial zones in the Kingdom where the industrial wastewater generated from various factories is going to be treated and recycled for irrigation and industrial use. Metito was also recently awarded the first WWTP to be installed at Jizan Refinery Tanks Farm project for Aramco using the innovative state of the art Wastewater treatment technology Turbo4Bio , which has an almost zero sludge production and produces high quality treated effluent suitable for none restricted irrigation in compliance with Aramco standards. The plant will be the first to serve a labor camp. — SG
