Environment & Energy | Sunday 15 May, 2016 5:27 am |

The desalination industry in Saudi Arabia witnessed significant shifts since it was initiated 88 years ago by King Abdul Aziz in 1928.

It started with importing two large machines for sea water distillation in order to find a steady source of fresh water for the people of Jeddah and to alleviate the suffering faced by the pilgrims and visitors to the holy sites in Makkah on arrival at Jeddah by sea.

From here was a real breakthrough for the desalination of sea water industry in the Kingdom where desalination projects gradually multiplied boosting production from 300 cubic meters a day until production by desalination plants, according to the Saline Water Conversion Corporation statistics, reached 1,107 million cubic meters a year, ranking the Kingdom on the top globally in this industry.

Water desalination became one of the most vitally important industries globally and in the Kingdom particularly because of the scarcity of fresh water sources. Water desalination has become a strategic option, and accordingly the Kingdom built and expanded many desalination plants on its western and eastern coasts.

Statistics indicate that there are 17 countries in the world that face absolute water scarcity, and the Kingdom is among the top five countries in the world experiencing water scarcity. The consumption of water in the country increased by 7.5-fold from 1980 to 2000. The per capita consumption currently is 256 liters per day.

The government of Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman was keen on developing the water desalination sector by pumping tens of billions of riyals into mega-projects carried out in all parts of the country.

In addition, there was implementation of a large network of pipelines to transport desalinated water to the beneficiaries throughout the country.

According to official statistics from the Ministry of Water and Electricity, installing water rationalization tools in the home helps cut consumption by about 40 percent.

A study carried out by a large mosque in Riyadh showed that using rationalization tools saved 8.7 million liters of water annually.

Home water consumption could be divided as follows: faucets 16 percent, laundry 22 percent, leaks 14 percent, bathing 17 percent, flushing 26 percent and others 5 percent.

According to the latest statistics, the amount of desalinated water from plants on the eastern coast reached 550 million cubic meters or 49.7 percent of the total production. These plants supply water to the Eastern province, Riyadh and Qassim. Plants on western coast produce 557.5 million cubic meters and they feed reservoirs in the holy sites, in addition to supplying to the cities of Makkah, Jeddah and Madinah and nearby areas.