Jeddah - Issues and Challenges

Issues and Challenges

Today, the city faces many challenges and issues, such as weak sewage systems, heavy traffic, epidemics, water shortage, and pollution issues.

Traffic
While the congested traffic is cause for concern in Jeddah, the Saudi Gazette reports that there is a plan in the works to tackle the traffic issue. A reported 3 billion Saudi Riyals will be put into constructing flyovers and underpasses in an effort to reduce traffic. The plan is scheduled to take about five years from its start to finish.

Sewage
Prior to the construction of a waste treatment plant, Jeddah's waste water was disposed of by either discharge into the sea or via absorption into deep underground pits. As the city grew, a proper waste management plant was created and the built up part of the city was connected with a sewer system by the 1970s. However, even with the ever increasing population, there has not been much development to this original sewer system. The original plant cannot cope with the amount of waste inundating it daily. As a result, some untreated sewage is discharged directly into the sea and the entire northern part of the city remains unconnected to the sewage system at all, instead relying on septic tanks. This has been responsible for the large number of sewage tankers.

In late 2011, a storm drainage system has been built in the south Jeddah area (similar to that of the Los Angeles storm drain) to reduce the risk of floods.