The new law governing water use and distribution due to come into effect later this year is still being studied by the government and may see further articles added, according to Hamdan Al-Faouri, a legal consultant involved in work on the law. “The draft law is still being looked at by specialists, but it contains some severe penalties as well as measures for more minor offenses,” Al-Faouri said. “The water sector is a very sensitive area and water a precious commodity, so the law has been drawn up to deter misuse. More articles may be added to the draft if deemed necessary.” Economics analyst Fadl Abu Al-Ainyan, sees a significant aspect of the draft in its hefty fines, but says that enforcement is crucial. “The most important thing of all is enforcement of the law and rigid guidelines for that enforcement,” Al-Ainyan said. “That's the only way water will be preserved and unnecessary consumption curbed. Our country has meager water resources and the government spends billions of riyals to supply us with water at very low costs.” The 18-article draft law targets all manner of misuse and – if ratified – will see including fines of up to SR5 million and three year's prison for polluting water networks and hefty penalties or jail terms for impeding water officials in the course of their work. There are 1,000-riyal penalties for preventing an “animal or bird” from drinking water, pouring water outside the limits of the building in which they reside, wasting water while washing cars, allowing water to spill from tank trucks, using water from unknown sources, and for persons with contagious diseases washing or conducting prayer ablutions with surface water. Also warned are “persons permitting animals in their care to enter surface water sources or burying animals in them.” A SR20,000-fine and a month in prison can be expected for fiddling with water meters, impeding the work of inspectors, or preventing meters being read. Those who “consume surface water” or drill for water without a license will meet the same fate. A fine of SR100,000 – “or a year in prison” – awaits government employees who seek to detract from the “transparency and neutrality of private sector water service companies”, or who “impede the acquisition of information that would enable the taking of decisions to invest in water services”, or any employee “assisting competitors to win licenses through illegitimate means.” A fine of over SR200,000 - or a year's prison – awaits anyone introducing unsafe water into the network even if it doesn't cause any serious illness or fatality, impeding the supply of clean water to anyone, bottling water without a license, and “inconveniencing people at public water purifying stations.” The largest penalty is a fine of SR5 million and three years in prison for introducing unsafe water into the network thereby “causing death, serious illness or handicap”, digging a well for underground water without a license, selling equipment to unlicensed parties for that same purpose, and for dumping “chemical, biological or radioactive material or any polluted material into a disused or active well”.
