Effective Policies and Management of Water Supplies Utilizing Integrated Water Resources Management Frameworks in Saudi Arabia

ABSTRACT: Borg El-Arab is a new industrial city within Alexandria containing around 1200 factory distributed within four industrial zones. Since 2008, the sanitary system including the treatment plant of Borg El-Arab was handed to Alexandria Sanitary Drainage Company (ASDCO) for management. From the preliminary survey it was found that all factory's effluents were not complying with the limits of Law 93 for year 1962 and its presidential decree 44 for year 2000. They dispose their raw wastewater directly into the sewerage system, which creates a chronic street flooding problems all over the industrial zones. As well as affecting the quality of the old treatment plant influent located at the east of the city and the newly instructed tertiary treatment plant. These factories did not construct effective industrial effluent treatment systems for their wastes, which were supposed to be constructed before getting the permission to start the industrial activity and production. Another problem was the lack of effective industrial effluent inspection, monitoring, and weakness of the legal power and action against non-complying industries. Finally, there was no technical assistance system. Alexandria Sanitary Drainage Company carried out a Management system to solve these problems through: 1) Industrial survey for technical assistance to apply pollution prevention concepts; 2) Periodical sampling and monitoring program based on severity of the industry; 3) Compliance evaluation to take step by step action for non-complying factories after re[1]assisting non-complying factories to reconcile their situation, this system applies for already existing industries. For new industries it is essential to apply an additional step which is that the Municipality should get our permission before giving license to industries to start practicing their activity.; 4) Applying a cost recovery program. According to applying these steps problems have decreased and number of complying industries has increased. Under these circumstances we would like to stress on the importance of applying On-line Monitoring systems to assure effective control of industrial effluent quality 24/7.

Water and wastewater utilities across the country are facing many common challenges. Effective utility management can help utilities respond to both current and future challenges and support utilities in their common mission of being successful 21st century service providers. Based on these challenges, EPA and six national water and wastewater associations signed an historic agreement in 2007 to jointly promote effective utility management based on the Ten Attributes of Effectively Managed Water Sector Utilities and five Keys to Management Success.

Introduction The increasing scarcity of water in the world coupled with rapid population growth, particularly in urban areas, is an ever more concerning phenomenon and gives rise to the need for appropriate integrated water resources management practices. Water supply, sanitation and water management are recognised as global concerns and have become a part of the Millennium Objectives. The Heads of State and Government convened at the United Nations 2000 meeting committed –upon adopting the Millennium Objectives– to reduce by half the proportion of world population without access to drinking water or basic sanitation services, and to do so by the year 2015. Water is of vital importance to development. The water and sanitation deficit in the Latin American and Caribbean (LAC) region is a major cause for concern. The LAC region possesses 30 percent of the world’s water resources; however, large segments of the population live in areas where water –when it exists– is either scarce or polluted. In addition, the distribution of population with respect to these water resources is highly irregular or inequitable. At present, despite the fact that 86 percent of the region’s population has access to a source of drinking water, only 49 percent has access to sanitation services (Looker, 1998). In the LAC region’s large urban centres, the lack of appropriate sanitation services has resulted in tremendous health problems for the poorest population. It is estimated that close to 150 of the nearly 510 million inhabitants of the region do not have access to any safe source of water at all, and nearly 250 million do not receive sewerage services (Looker, 1998). Many Caribbean islands have a low availability of water, and some of the more populated areas are very limited in this resource. For this reason desalinizing plants have played an important role in some countries such as Antigua and Barbuda, the Bahamas and Barbados. In the cities of the LAC region 13 percent of the population has no access to sanitation services, whereas 7 percent has no access to a source of drinking water. The lack of access to a safe source of water and to sanitation services, together with high population density, generates immense public health problems. In developing nations – where less than 10 percent of wastewater is treated– diarrhoea is one of the primary causes of infant mortality, showing disproportionately high rates in the poor population of these countries. Vector-related disease, such as malaria, also increases in sites containing stagnant wastewater (Looker, 1998).