Saudi Arabia's water and sewage sector is estimated to be worth SR 2.8 billion in 2009, Saudi Arabia's National Water Company said recently. The company leads an extensive privatization program in the sector. In Riyadh alone there are more than 100 water and sewage projects currently underway, with 44 planned for 2009. Much of this spend will go to private companies, as opportunities for them in Saudi Arabia improve. This has led to the Kingdom being first in line to see a water technology, new to the region, go into action. The bacterial water treatment process, known as HYBACS (hybrid bacillus activated sludge), is being introduced by a joint venture currently under formation. Bluewater Bio's revolutionary and proprietary biological wastewater treatment technology, HYBACS, cost-effectively and reliably produces high quality treated effluents in over 25 plants globally for industrial, municipal, and commercial clients. The process is also designed and operated to grow bacillus sp. in-situ, exploiting the ability of these bacteria to produce a wide range of enzymes at high rates. In addition to removing nutrients, HYBACS produces high quality treated effluents with BOD values less than 10 mg/l. Saudi Industrial Property Authority (MODON) said in its annual report for 2008 that THE water allocation projects, which reduced the cost to factories, grew up to 50 percent with high quality service without any cost to the government. These projects will also help to use recycled water, which will provide approximately 50 percent of the used water. These projects also provide drinking water, sewage and industrial water services in the industrial cities in Riyadh, Jeddah , Dammam, Qassim and Al-Ahsa. At the 5th World Water Forum or the World Water Day, the largest water-related event in the world, which concluded in Turkey recently, the participants pledged firm commitments to tackle global water challenges jointly in the context of sustainable development. According to statistics of the forum, only 2.5 percent of all the water on Earth is freshwater, two-thirds of which is in glaciers and polar ice caps. Therefore, available freshwater represents less than 1 percent of the world's total water stock. Furthermore, a study released at the forum showed that 85 percent of the world's population live on the droughty land of the Earth. More than 1 billion people living in arid and semiarid parts of the world have little access to renewable water sources. According to the 3rd UN World Water Development Report released by UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, more than 900 million people still have no access to drinking water and 2.5 billion people are still deprived of sanitation. __
