Saudi – Jeddah Water Storage Plan to Launch in 2014

The strategic water storage project in Jeddah will be launched in the second quarter of 2014, said the National Water Company (NWC).

The project is the first of its kind in the city to solve the problem of the increasing demand for water. NWC aims to find radical solutions to the challenges facing the water sector and the environmental treatment in general.

Louay Al-Musalam, CEO of the company, said during an inspection tour of the project that all tools and equipment to implement the project are of high quality and in compliance with international standards and specifications.

The first stage involves the construction of eight cylindrical reservoirs made of reinforced concrete, each accommodating 188,000 cubic meters of water.

“Total storage capacity of the first stage will amount to 1.5 million cubic meters, with a cost of more than SR540 million,” said Al-Musalam, adding: “Three more reservoirs will be built later with a storage capacity of half a million cubic meters. This will bring the total capacity to 2 million cubic meters.”

He said that bids for the implementation of the second stage of the project would soon be called. “Storage capacity of the second stage will amount to 2 million cubic meters. Once all stages are completed, the total storage capacity of water for Jeddah will reach 6 million cubic meters, with a cost of about SR2.2 billion,” he said.