Saudi poised for sevefold hike in water reuse

Unveiling a white paper highlighting government policy options for addressing water scarcity in Saudi Arabia, GE Power & Water said the kingdom was in a position to up its reuse of wastewater sevenfold to more than 240 million m³/year.

Speaking at the Water Arabia 2015 Conference & Exhibition, president and chief executive officer of GE Power & Water, Heiner Markhoff, said: “One of the challenges in implementing efficient water recycling and reuse programs is to find reliable data and information on policy options. The white paper presents strong policy options that are available to governments as well as how advanced technology platforms can help achieve the goal.”

The white paper described four policy directions based on education and outreach, removing barriers, incentives, mandates and regulations. Co-author of the paper and government affairs leader for GE Power & Water, Jon Freedman, said the paper was “developed following extensive research of the kingdom’s water landscape.”

It said “research reports” showed that Saudi Arabia aims to increase water reuse to more than 65% by 2020 and over 90% by 2040 by transforming its existing and planned wastewater treatment assets into water supplies. It said the Saudi government aimed to achieve 100% reuse of wastewater from cities with 5,000 inhabitants or more by 2025. “The kingdom has tremendous potential to enhance water reuse by over seven times to 241 million m3/year,” added Jon Freedman.

He said the paper “underlines our commitment to support Saudi Arabia in promoting water reuse, one of the strategies being adopted by the government to address increased demand.”

GE, in a release, said the white paper presented: “the water reuse landscape in the kingdom, the water reuse policy and regulations, a range of technology options to address water reuse challenges and success case studies from markets including Bahrain.”