VZCZCXYZ0007
RR RUEHWEB

DE RUEHJI #0269/01 0951337
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 051337Z APR 06
FM AMCONSUL JEDDAH
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 9010
INFO RUEHEPA/HQ EPA WASHDC
RUEHRH/AMEMBASSY RIYADH 6361
RUEHAM/AMEMBASSY AMMAN 0225

UNCLAS JEDDAH 000269 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
INTERIOR FOR International/Senhadji 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: SENV SA
SUBJECT: Jeddah's "Perfume" Lake of Sewage 
 
1) Summary: Municipal and Governorate officials say that 
inadequate sewage treatment is Jeddah's major environment 
problem.  The Mecca Governorate Water Ministry has 
integrated water management into one ministry and has begun 
major capital projects to expand the sewage network and 
wastewater treatment plants, but treatment of 85% of the 
sewage is at least six years away.  Solid waste management, 
especially of old tires, is another concern.  End summary. 
 
--------------------------------------------- --------- 
Governorate Now Has Agency to Handle Supply and Sewage 
--------------------------------------------- --------- 
 
2) Director General Mohammed Bughdadi of the Mecca 
Governorate Water Ministry told us on March 18 that water 
management functions including water supply and sewage 
treatment had previously been spread out among several 
ministries but that those functions had been amalgamated 
into the Ministry of Water and Electricity two and a half 
years previously.  The Ministry serves 5.4 million in the 
Mecca Governorate, 88% of whom live in the three major 
cities of Mecca, Jeddah and Taif.  The population is growing 
at about 2.4% per year, he said. 
 
--------------------------------------------- -------------- 
Sewage Network and Treatment Plants Cover 30% of Population 
--------------------------------------------- -------------- 
 
3) Jeddah Deputy Mayor for Services Khaled Akeel said that 
only a small portion of Jeddah has a sewage network and 
treatment plants.  Even new areas of the city, surprisingly, 
have no sewage system.  Large contracts have been let, and 
construction has started but they will take 4-5 years to 
complete. 
 
¶4.  Water Ministry DG Bughdadi said in a separate meeting 
that his governorate-level "ministry" has a "big problem" 
with wastewater collection.  He said that only 15% of the 
area of Jeddah municipality, representing 30% of the 
population, has a sewage collection system.  The rest of the 
people have cesspools or cesspits, he said. 
 
¶5.  Of the roughly one million cubic meters (1 MCM) of 
wastewater that enters the distribution system each day, 
only about 20% gets any kind of wastewater treatment.  The 
governorate used to put 100,000 cubic meters of sewage per 
day in the Red Sea but that practice was stopped a year and 
a half ago, Bughdadi said. 
 
------------------ 
The "Perfume Lake" 
------------------ 
 
¶6.  Jeddah's stopgap measure, taken in part to prevent 
dumping raw sewage in the Red Sea, has been to collect 
30,000 cubic meters (almost 8 million gallons) per day of 
raw sewage in tankers and truck it to the "Perfume Lake" 
outside the city.  This means at least 2,500 trucks per day 
making the trip.  Since people have to pay private 
contractors at least $20 per tanker for this service, the 
situation is "ripe" for illegal abuses, such as dumping 
sewage into the storm system that drains into the Red Sea. 
The possible bursting of the Perfume Lake's earth dam is a 
major concern as well. 
 
¶7.  Jeddah does have two sewage treatment plants, near Old 
Jeddah, whose treated wastewater flows into two lagoons. 
Sometimes there are problems, said Akeel, and untreated 
water flows into the lagoons. 
 
¶8.  The city is in charge of the Perfume Lake, said Akeel, 
and plans to begin some basic treatment of the sewage, such 
as aeration and bacterial treatment, in 1-2 months.  The 
city will continue to use the Perfume Lake until upgrades to 
the sewage system become operational. 
 
--------------------------------------------- ---- 
Wastewater Treatment Inadequacies Being Addressed 
--------------------------------------------- ---- 
 
¶9.  DG Bughdadi said that the Mecca Governorate can treat 
about 240,000 cubic meters (CM) of sewage per day in one 
large (100,000 CM/day) and several medium sized (10,000- 
15,000 CM/day) wastewater treatment plants in Jeddah.  The 
existing plants are being upgraded from secondary treatment 
to tertiary treatment, and a new plant with daily capacity 
of 250,000 CM is being built.  All those upgrades should be 
done within two and a half years. 
¶10.  The ministry started construction a year ago on a new 
treatment plant near the airport with daily capacity of 
250,000 cubic meters.  Another 250,000 cubic meters of 
capacity will be added later, said Bughdadi, ultimately 
giving his Ministry capacity to treat 1.1 million cubic 
meters of sewage per day. 
 
¶11.  The biggest problem, DG Bughdadi said, is the lack of a 
network to collect sewage.  The national government has 
allocated $1.9 billion (SR 7 billion) in several tranches to 
expand the sewage system, and construction is underway. 
Bughdadi hopes to have 85-90% coverage and treatment but 
says it will take at least 6-7 years to reach that goal. 
The open trenches being dug for sewer pipes are going to be 
an ongoing problem for years, he said, creating not only a 
nuisance but a health problem since the stagnant water in 
those trenches will be a breeding ground for mosquitoes. 
 
------------------------------------------- 
Fresh Water Supply from Desalination Plants 
------------------------------------------- 
 
¶12.  Bughdadi's Ministry is also responsible for 
distribution of fresh water, which they receive free from 
the Government-owned "Saline Water Conversion Corporation's" 
desalination plants.  Consumers pay essentially "zero," said 
Bughdadi, for their water, unless they buy it from tankers. 
 
¶13.  Desalinated water represents 97% of the fresh water 
supply, Bughdadi said.  Three large "desal" plants in Jeddah 
produce about one million cubic meters (about 260 million 
gallons) of fresh water per day, of which about two-thirds 
goes to the roughly three million people in Jeddah, with the 
remainder going outside the municipality.  He said that it 
"all" goes for domestic use but did not indicate what amount 
is used for landscaping.  KSA's first private desal plant 
has been contracted and should be on-line in 2009 or 2010, 
he said, and will produce 800,000 cubic meters per day.  All 
the plants use "Multistage Flash" (MSF) technology and 
cogenerate electricity (hence the Ministry of Electricity 
and Water.) 
 
--------------------------------------------- ---------- 
Working on Demand Management, Reducing Losses in System 
--------------------------------------------- ---------- 
 
¶14.  Bughdadi says he has a "major problem" with leakage in 
the fresh water distribution system.  He estimates, on 
admittedly scanty data, that 30-35% of the water that enters 
the system gets lost en route, creating both environmental 
and economic problems.  The system was "slow" to address 
these issues, he said. 
 
¶15.  The Kingdom is halfway through a demand management 
program that Bughdadi said had been a "phenomenal success" 
and showed "clear results."  He cited a New York program as 
the model for the program, which distributes water 
conservation kits and information to consumers.  He frankly 
admitted that the lack of water conservation was "a cultural 
problem."  He is anxious to reduce water use, though, in 
order to reduce the need for wastewater treatment 
infrastructure. 
 
------------------------------ 
Plan to Privatize Water Sector 
------------------------------ 
 
¶16.  The Ministry plans to develop a tariff system but this 
will be a long-term project that enters the political area, 
Bughdadi said.  The Ministry is working with the Shura 
Council (Note:  This is the appointive consultative body 
that analyzes and debate important policy issues and advises 
the King.  End note.), the World Bank and private 
consultants Booz Allen Hamilton on this project. 
This issue will also be intimately linked to the planned 
privatization of the water system.  Bughdadi complained that 
the current organization chart for water looks like "an 
octopus," and he wants to see the sector managed on a clean, 
commercial basis. 
 
------------------------ 
Other Environmental Issues 
------------------------ 
 
¶17.  Deputy Mayor Akeel also noted concern on solid waste 
issues, particularly managing old tires.  Tires are a 
problem because the water they trap is a breeding ground for 
Jeddah's squadrons of mosquitoes.  He was also interested in 
developing recycling programs for cooking oil and engine 
oil.  Comment: These ideas appeared to be at the conceptual 
stage.  End comment. 
 
¶18.  Akeel said that Jeddah municipality is in the process 
of "considering" a contract for an environmental monitoring 
center that would track the status of air and water 
pollution in real time from a sensor network around the 
city. He said that the contract might be let in six months. 
 
---------------------- 
Better Late Than Never 
---------------------- 
 
¶19.  Akeel said that Saudi Arabia was "late" in developing 
an environmental consciousness.  Bughdadi echoed the 
sentiment separately, saying that the government was "slow" 
to address sewage and water issues.  Akeel said that Saudis 
are focusing "more and more" on the environment and now 
consider it to be "very important."  An indication of this 
is the money being spent by the KSA on infrastructure. 
 
GFOELLER