Model for sustainable water reuse in desert cities

Wadi Hanifah is the normally dry river that runs for seventy kilometres through Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia, and a city of almost 5 million in the middle of the arid Najd plateau. Ten years ago the river bed was a toxic wasteland, used as a dumping ground by municipalities and construction companies, as a traffic detour by frustrated motorists, and as a convenient corridor for power lines and sewage pipes. Now the wadi has been transformed, the water cleaned up, the river regraded and reshaped, restricted to traffic and opened to residents who can now picnic along its banks. For this, the ArRiyadh Development Authority (ADA), their engineers Buro Happold and planners Moriyama & Teshima won one of the world's most prestigious design awards, the Aga Khan Award for Architecture, in 2010. Read more: http://j.mp/wfTR1f Photo: Arriyadh Development Authority

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Taxonomy

• Public Health
• Purification