Saudi Gazette report

JEDDAH — Water trucks have disappeared from the streets of Jeddah after the National Water Company (NWC) shut down the Al-Faisaliyah water filling station, the largest and the oldest in Jeddah, after pumping essential quantities of water to the public distribution network.

Mayor of Jeddah Saleh Al-Turki and the CEO of the National Water Company Mohammed Bin Ahmed Al-Mowkley witnessed the closure of the 45-year old water station in Jeddah’s Al-Faisaliyah district.

Al-Mowkley has said an amount of 150,000 cubic meters of water, previously used to be distributed through the station, has been redirected to the public network.

The closure comes in application of the company’s program for enhancing operation and increasing sufficient supply hours via the public network that serves NWC customers in Jeddah as well as to reduce dependence on water trucks.

The shutdown brings many advantages including general improvement in the quality of services and an increase in the daily supply hours for 20 districts, comprising more than 60,000 properties.

Additionally, it will enhance the environment and give a civilized appearance to the governorate through addressing visual pollution and reducing traffic jams on the neighboring roads. The daily back and forth journeys of water trucks, which add up to some 8,000 trips a day, will finally end.

Reducing tanker trips will also eliminate damage to the environment from exhaust emissions.

The company completed three phases of its operational program so far, serving more than 50 districts or 70 percent of Jeddah, added the CEO.

“This amazing performance resulted in a leap in the sufficient supply hours via the public network to reach 17 hours a day. The supply interruption between shifts has been also reduced by 40 percent and the demand on tankers decreased by 60 percent,” he said.

Jeddah has six filling stations, out of which two have been closed, Briman and Al-Faisaliyah stations.

The NWC aims to close down the rest soon via developing the infrastructure, enhancing water operations and reducing the demand for water trucks. It plans to keep these stations as a standby in case of extreme emergencies.

The customers are already seeing the direct benefits of continuous and sufficient supply of water to their houses.

The program managed to connect water to many districts that were not previously covered by the network including Al-Hamdaniyah, Al-Salihiyah, Al-Rayan, Al-Rahmaniyah, Al-Kawthar, Al-Sawa’ed, Tibah, Quwaizah and Al-Asalah.

NWC pumps 150,000 cubic meters of more water to public network