If Abdullah Al-Hussayen, Minister of Water and Electricity and Chairman of the Board of the National Water Company, is to be believed, water crisis in Jeddah will be a thing of the past. Of course, Jeddah citizens will heave a big sigh of relief as water crisis has gripped the city now for too long, Al-Watan reported on Wednesday. “The water crisis in Jeddah will be over once the floating desalination plant which arrived in Shu'aibah begins operations in two weeks' time at a production capacity of 25,000 cubic meters,” the minister said. The Shu'aibah desalination plant 3 will become operational in six months and will have a production capacity of 1.13 million cubic meters, with Jeddah's quota exceeding 60 percent, Al-Hussayen said. He said the construction of a seawater desalination plant in Jeddah will be offered in a new bid. The planned desalination plant will operate according to the reverse osmosis system and will have a production capacity of over 240,000 cubic meters. Additionally, the program for maintenance and improvement of Jeddah's fourth plant will be completed to allow the plant to operate over the 15 coming years. The minister added that a new floating plant is currently in the manufacturing process in Jubail Port and that it will have a production capacity of 25,000 cubic meters of desalinated water. At a press conference on Tuesday following the signing of a partnership agreement with the Alliance of the Swiss Environment French Company and the Arabian Water and Energy Development Company (Aquapower) for the management, operation and maintenance of the sanitary drainage sector in Jeddah at a total cost of SR 254.8 million, Al-Hussayen indicated that allocation of water to Jeddah districts will be studied in detail by the new operating company to enforce the principle of fair allocation. Al-Hussayen explained that a number of districts in Jeddah receives water only one day a month due to their geographical location. __
