National Water to invest $66.4bn in water and wastewater projects

Saudi Arabia’s National Water Co is set to invest about $66.4bn in water and wastewater projects over the next eight years.

National Water will spend around $11bn on desalination projects, which will deliver fresh water from seawater and power some desalination plants with solar energy.

The company intends to invest more in wastewater projects and has said about $30.66bn will be spent on improving the water supply between 2012-20.

National Water also plans to staunch large-scale leakage from the water system, and said water saved from leakage in Riyadh and Jeddah has increased from 256.07 million cubic feet in 2008 to 2.3 billion cubic feet in 2011.

Revenue is expected to exceed that from potable water sales in Riyadh and five other major cities by 2022, and by 2030, it’s estimated that potable water sales will total $754.5m.

The Saline Water Conversion Corp, which operates about 30 desalination plants on the Persian Gulf and Red Sea coasts, recently reported it is implementing new desalination projects, valued at $10.66bn.

Saudi Arabia Water and Electricity Minister Abdullah Al-Hussayen said the kingdom plans to rely heavily on solar energy to operate desalination plants instead of using oil and gas.

The kingdom is using hydrocarbons for power generation, including the energy-intensive desalination plants that are the main source of water.

The International Energy Agency has estimated that Saudi Arabia’s rate of direct crude burning nearly doubled in 2008-10 because of the rapid increase in demand for electricity and a shortage of natural gas.

Saudi Arabia’s water supply has increased from 26.77 billion cubic feet in 2008 to 36.66 billion cubic feet in 2011, reports upi.com.