Saudi Arabia Water Shortage Relieved

Press, Volume CX, Issue 32210, 31 January 1970, Page 18

Saudi Arabia Water Shortage Relieved

(N.Z.P.A .-Reuter—Copyright) RIYADH. Discovery of huge underground water reserves in Riyadh, capital of the desert kingdom of Saudi Arabia, has relieved an acute water shortage—at least for the next 15 years. It has also deprived the city’s water-carriers of jobs, as well as those who earned a living by digging wells and making waterskins. These ancient professions have been on the decline for nearly 30 years, since oil-rich Saudi Arabia began spending vast sums of money on supplying piped water to towns and villages. The new water reserves, covering an area of about 500 miles by 174 miles, were found at a depth of 1200 yards in a wadi in the city’s outskirts. The water has been trapped under sandstone layers for

nearly 30,000 years. It is hot, very hard, corrosive, and bad smelling, because of its high hydrogen sulphide content But the local waterworks, commissioned only a few months ago, delivers the water cool and' clean to consumers. The system Is also connected to a number of springs and shallow wells of good quality water round the city. Built by a Swedish firm, the waterworks supplies about 918,000 cubic feet of water daily. The firm is now. installing a water tank with a capacity of 423,000 cubic feet and is laying a new water distribution network. The Swedes will run the waterworks for five years and will also train Saudis for the.job. Authorities .expect that the abundance of water will result in a further growth of Riyadh, which <n the last 30 years has been transformed from a walled village of mud dwellings into a modern city of about 350,000 people.

The search for new sources of underground water will continue to meet expected demands in the mid-1980s. Saudi Arabia has been using a good part of its enormous oil wealth to ensure plentiful supplies of water. Apart from the Riyadh waterworks, the Government has spent about slsm during the last five years on new waterworks projects or the improvement of existing facilities in more than 60 villages and towns. Over the next three years about 324.2 m will be spent on 159 additional water projects. In March a desalination plant on the Red Sea will begin supplying water as well as 50,000 kilowatts of electricity an hour to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia’s business centre. Two smaller desalination plants at Al-Wajh and Dubba, north of Jeddah, are already supplying these towns with drinking water.