ABSTRACT
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is situated at the furthermost part of southwestern Asia, and it occupies approximately four-fifths of the Arab Peninsula, covering a total area of 2.25 million km2 of which about 40% are desert lands (Figure 1). In 1974 the country witnessed a major threshold increase in its oil revenues by about 20 to 40 times. The annual government revenues (mainly oil) have increased since 1974 from less than Saudi Riyals (SR) 5 billion to about SR100–220 billion. Since 1974, the country has experienced comprehensive and rapid developments socially, and in the construction, education, health, transport, industrial and agricultural sectors. The Kingdom managed to move within a limited number of years from a typical Third World country to a more advanced country with modern and complex infrastructures. The improvements in the standard of living coupled with better health care in urban and rural areas have led to rapid population growth. Large cities with a population of more than 4 million, such as ArRiyadh and Jeddah, have been developed during the last decade. The rapid population growth and urbanization have resulted in a major rise in water and sanitation services, which has put immense pressure on local water authorities to satisfy these requirements, especially in an extremely arid country such as Saudi Arabia.
