A Japanese expert in water technology Prof. Satoshi Takizawa, Dept. of Urban Engineering, Tokyo University, has expressed his confidence that the Japanese technologies for desalination and wastewater recycling provide ideal solutions to augment Middle East water supplies. He said so during his keynote speech made at the Japan-Saudi Water Seminar held recently in Dammam.
The seminar was arranged by the Japanese Cooperation Center for Middle East (JCCME) in cooperation with the Eastern Province Chamber of Commerce & Industry.
While giving the welcome speech at the Seminar, Deputy Secretary General of the Chamber of Commerce & Industry, Mr. Adnan A. Al Naeim, highlighted the fact Saudi Arabia's surface water resources are extremely limited. "We do have underground water which is non-replenishable, and this water is getting exhausted with its growing use in agriculture and industry, apart from normal human consumption".
Saudi Arabia, he explained, has launched large-scale programs for desalination to meet "the crucial gap between supply and demand for water." Elaborating, he observed: "We can claim to have the world's largest desalination facilities. More large projects are now planned not only for desalination but also for wastewater recycling to meet the growing shortages. In the next two decades, a total investment of about $100 billion will be needed to develop water resources in Saudi Arabia. This gives us an idea about the dimension of the emerging business opportunities in this sector."
Speaking specifically about the Japanese role in Saudi desalination projects, Mr. Al Naeim said that Japanese companies are already carrying out water and power projects valued at about $ 10 billion. At the same time, competition for projects here has been keen and, therefore, he suggested that Japan needs to devise an aggressive strategy of cooperation to take advantage of the potential opportunities.
"Such a strategy should involve closer collaboration with the existing local companies in projects execution, new investments not only in new IWPP projects for desalination, but also in wastewater recycling and in new industries which will produce equipment and spare parts for this sector", he added.
Prof. Takizawa stressed that Japanese water management technologies have been constantly upgraded over the years. Continuous research and innovations take place in this sector to improve quality of water, reduce the cost of operations and increase productive efficiency. He said that Japan has set high standards for its water management technologies, especially in three directions: membrane technologies, waste water reclamation and reuse technologies and integrated management of urban and industrial water systems.
Explaining the high standards achieved in these technologies, he gave instances of how these technologies have benefited the Japanese water management system. The benefits, according to him, are:
Municipal Water Supply
High quality standards, e.g. turbidity 0.1 NTU
Low non-revenue water: less than 5%
Municipal wastewater treatment
Effluent BOD: less than 5 mg/L.
Wastewater reuse: toilet flushing and environmental restoration in Tokyo and other mega cities
Industrial water and waste water
Very high recycle rates due to limited water resources and increasing costs of getting clean water
Leading Japanese companies specializing in desalination technologies participated in the seminar and presented valuable papers. The companies represented in the seminar were: Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Nitto Deko Corp., Toray Industries, Toyobo Co., Asahi Kasei Chemicals, Kobelco, Kubota, Suidokika Kaisha, Sumitomo, Toyo Engineering and Xenesys.
Their presentations covered three broad groups of technologies, namely, (1) Seawater RO desalination, (2 Wastewater treatment and recycling, and (3) Integrated water management.
Participants in the seminar included Saudi experts in water technology, which in effect gave a forum for a virtual dialogue among experts of the two countries. Dr. Walid A. Abderrahman, Professor, Water Resources Management, KFUPM and Mr. Ahmad S. Al Rammaah of Saudi Aramco highlighted the water management issues from the standpoint of Saudi Arabia and the challenges facing Saudi Arabia in this basic infrastructure field.
Tracing the supply and demand situation for water, Dr. Abderrahman pointed out that Saudi Arabia has relied on groundwater resources to support its comprehensive socio economic, agricultural and industrial developments during the last three decades. Understanding the characteristics of the aquifer, the government has followed rationalized approach "to utilize groundwater resources by controlling aquifer development, well licensing and drilling, agriculture policy modification, production of non conventional water resources".
He added: "Corrective demand management measures such as major shifting and reduction in agricultural areas, augmentation of water supplies by seawater desalination and reuse of treated waster water effluents were carried out to correct the aquifer management policies. The implementation of Water Conservation measures in addition to formation of NWC and PPP will help in overcoming the Urban water and wastewater challenges in a more dynamic and effective approaches".
Saudi Commerce and Economic Review 2007
