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Until June 1987,
untreated sewage was discharged directly into the Gulf in the vicinity of the
port of Aqaba. At that time the city started treating ito water using a 7,200
cu m/day waste water treatment plant prior to discharge. The treated effluent
is used for irrigation purposes inside the treatment plant. Considerable amounts
of sewage are, however, being discharged into the Gulf from tour boats, ferries
and private yachts.
In addition, there are three vessels operated by the Maritime Company, servicing
the Aqaba-Nuweiba ferry route, which have no on-board sewage treatment systems
and, hence, untreated sewage generated from the 1.2 million passengers who travel
this route annually is dumped directly into the Gulf.
| Source: PERSGA166:17 |
The main cities
on the Saudi Arabia coast of Red are Jeddah and Yanbu. These two cities have
commercial and industrial facilities. Yanbu in Yanbu. particular is well-known
for its heavy industrial base.
In Jeddah, approximately 65% of the population is connected to the sewerage system. The collected sewage is treated by six public-sector secondary-level treatment plants. The remaining 35% of the city's population uses septic tanks for disposal and treatment of its sewage.
The city's public sector sewage treatment plants operate at a total capacity of 191,000 cu m/day, exceeding by 32% their design capacity of 145,000 cu m/day. 40,000 cu m/day of treated waste water is reused for city landscape while the remaining 146,000 cu m/day of treated waste water is discharged into the Red Sea after proper chlorination.
An activated sludge sewage treatment plant, with a 27,000 cu m/day design capacity, is used to treat domestic waste water generated in Yanbu City (Madinat Yanbu AI-Sinaiyah). A flow rate of 15,900 cu m/day is received at the plant for treatment, where a good quality treated waste water is produced. As the plant provides advanced treatment at the tertiary level, the quality of the treated waste water is suitable for irrigation. The treated waste water from this plant is reused for the city gardens. In times of low irrigation demand, a limited amount of treated waste water is discharged to the sea.
The waste water disposed to septic tanks in coastal cities, towns and villages
is subject to land treatment. A small proportion of municipal waste water is
treated in privately owned sewage treatment plants situated in big companies
and residential buildings. The treated waste water from these sewage treatment
plants is also disposed on land or reused for their own garden irrigation.
| Source PERSGA166:24 |
Pollution loads discharged to the Red Sea through municipal waste treatment
facilities, according to a 1996 study, reached 2,763 tonnes per year of BOD
,
and nil in Yanbu.
| Source PERSGA166:25 |
One of the main
sources of pollution of the coastal areas in the Red Sea is the discharge of
poorly treated or untreated sewage effluents into the marine environment. Egyptian
Red Sea tourist areas located outside city limits have their own sewage treatment
facilities. Many of these establishments use compact treatment units which operate
under widely fluctuating flows. These highly variable flows, the result of significant
variations in hotel occupancy, are responsible for the failure of these package
systems to produce acceptable effluent qualities. The discharge of treated effluents
into the sea occasionally occurs. Pollution due to sewage discharge from tourist
facilities, and the consequent damage to marine life, is evident in Taba, Nuweiba
and Sharm el Sheikh on the Egyptian Gulf of Aqaba coast, and at several localities
on the Egyptian Red Sea coasts. Information on the quantity and quality of waste
water discharges from various sources and on the methods and location of discharges
is not available, however.
| Source: PERSGA166:30 |