Saudi Arabia Is Striving For 100% Wastewater Reuse By 2025

Saudi Arabia wants to revolutionize the way water is used. And by 2025, Saudi Arabia is striving for 100% wastewater reuse.

Parched Land

Saudi Arabia is making moves to reuse water as it is running out of sources. It is a desert country with no permanent rivers or lakes and very little rainfall. According to theSaudi Embassy, "Water is scarce and extremely valuable, and with the country's rapid growth, the demand for water is increasing."

According toNational Geographic, "experts estimate that four-fifths of the Saudis' "fossil" water is now gone." The "fossil" water, otherwise known as aquifers, were one of Saudi Arabia's largest sources of water which are now drying up due to over usage in farming in the past generation.

A Reusable Solution

The Saudi Arabian government proposes to garner more water by aiming for 100% wastewater reuse. Considering a quarter of the global economy is presently at risk because of non-sustainable water according toGrowing Blue, this solution seems to be aiming Saudi Arabia in the right direction to help increase water sustainability.

To kick off the project, the Saudi Arabian Water Environment Association (SAWEA) and the Water Environment Federation (WEF) co-organized a three-day conference calledWater Arabia 2015.

The event, which took place on February 17 to 19, 2015 in Khobar, Saudi Arabia, covered a wide range of topics including:

• Water and wastewater treatment design, operations and technologies
• Water and sewer network design and technologies
• Advanced treatment technologies
• Policy and Management of the KSA water supply
• Sustainable water and wastewater supply practices

Which Option To Pick?

Most importantly, during the conference General Electric (GE) uncovered an industry white paper on water scarcity in Saudi Arabia with policy options for continued success.

The white paper covered four major water reuse policy options to governments including:

• Education and outreach
• Removing barriers
• Incentives
• Mandates and regulation

Co-author of the paper and government affairs leader for GE Power & Water, Jon Freedman believes, "The kingdom has tremendous potential to enhance water reuse by over seven times to 241 million m3/year."

It's now up to the Saudi Arabian government to pick the most fruitful option to help its economy, people and land succeed.

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