The Ministry of Water and Electricity for Planning Affairs has spent a whopping SR900 million on the save-water campaign launched four years ago, according to Deputy Minister Dr. Louay Al-Musallam. He revealed the amount in a statement made after signing an agreement to sponsor the “Wafeer” campaign launched by Tamkeen Development and Administrative Consultations Company. Al-Musallam said that the ministry provided 32 million free units for rationalization of water consumption, which contributed to saving 400,000 cubic meters of water each year. Asia Aal Al-Sheikh, president of Tamkeen, warned that water supplies would dwindle to half if current industrial, commercial and residential consumption patterns continue. “This initiative is only the beginning,” she told Al-Hayat Arabic daily. Wafeer is the first initiative for rationalization of water in the industrial sector. The initiative was launched at last November's Water and Energy Forum held in Jeddah. “Saudi Arabia is one of the top countries in terms of scarcity of usable water,” Al-Sheikh said. “Add to this the fact that we are not a society with the most competent use of water. Let us not also forget the increasing numbers of the population and the urban and industrial pollution”, she said. According to Arabic daily Al-Madina, Tamkeen has signed agreements with 10 facilities representing four different sectors at the industrial zone in Jeddah – for assessment of water use in these facilities and training of specialists in rationalizing consumption. Mohammad Abdullah Abou Nayan of the board of Aqua Power Company said his company has signed up with Tamkeen. The Council of Ministers has issued directives for treatment and recycling of the industrial waste water. “The private sector must receive financial and moral support for this initiative, which is the first in the Kingdom,” Al-Musallam told Al-Madina.Water treatment As for conservation through water treatment, Ralph Hadley, director general of Water Treatment Technologies at General Electric Middle East and Africa, told Arabic daily Alsharq Al-Awsat that GCC countries would need investments of about $100 billion over the next 10 years in this sector. Hadley expects investments in the water treatment sector to increase five-fold in the near future due to increasing industrial and agricultural use. GCC countries have announced plans to privatize the water sector: “This will have a positive impact on the sector through use of new technologies which could assist in resolving many pending matters due to technology or cost
