Business | General
Saudi Arabia plans to increase water supply
The Saudi Arabian Saline Water Conversion Corporation (SWCC) has drawn up a plan to eliminate water shortages across the country.
- By Mariam Al Hakeem, Correspondent
- Published: 00:00 January 28, 2007
Riyadh: The Saudi Arabian Saline Water Conversion Corporation (SWCC) has drawn up a plan to eliminate water shortages across the country.
The plan, which has not been released, will solve the water problem by building new desalination plants, the corporation said.
SWCC is the agency responsible for supplying pure drinking water in Saudi Arabia and is investing heavily in desalination despite the challenges of water shortages in the face of the rising population. Saudi Arabia is the world's largest producer of desalinated water.
The corporation is planning to upgrade one desalination plant and build a new one with a bigger capacity.
The new station, with a capacity of 200,000 cubic metres a day, will be completed early next year and will meet the water demand for six years.
Population growth
The increasing growth of the population and the expanding economy are increasing the demand for fresh water.
A recent United Nations report noted that a third of the world's population will be living in areas suffering water shortages.
These areas will include parts of the US, south and east Africa and vast areas of Asia in addition to the desert areas of the Middle East.
Official statistics show that the demand for water will increase to over 3,000 million cubic metres a year by 2010 and around 4,000 million cubic metres a year by 2020.
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