The Ministry of Environment, Water and Agriculture has said documentation of rainfall rates in the Kingdom for the past 50 years indicated that it is about 103 millimeters per year, and the annual volume of rain is about 166 billion cubic meters. The average volume of torrents that occur from these rains is estimated at about eight billion cubic meters annually, according to Dr. Abdullah Aba Al-Khail, spokesman of the ministry.

He clarified that the average volume of torrents in the Kingdom is not 100 billion cubic meters annually as indicated in one of the video clips being circulated in the social media. “The maximum benefit from torrents is in the range of 5 billion cubic meters annually, and the rest falls on the desert of the Empty Quarter and the sedimentary shelf valleys. The volume of annual rainfall is 166 billion and not 125 billion cubic meters as mentioned in the footage,” he said.

Aba Al-Khail stated that what is currently harvested from torrential rain is about 2.3 billion cubic meters through 521 surface and underground dams, and the ministry is working to increase it to 2.57 billion cubic meters through 31 dams that are being built.

The spokesman pointed out that there is an opportunity to harvest an additional 1.55 billion cubic meters annually through a project to build 1,000 dams, and work is currently underway to complete technical studies for them, so as to increase to 4.12 billion cubic meters annually. He noted that the construction of dams is a huge work as it is to be preceded by several comprehensive geological and hydrological studies.

Dr. Aba Al-Khail pointed out that the ministry has established 22 pools to harvest rainwater in locations where dams cannot be constructed, with a total storage capacity of one million cubic meters annually, and plans to increase the number of ponds by 50 to harvest approximately two million cubic meters annually. The remaining surface runoff is around 3.6 billion cubic meters annually, and it is currently working on natural recharge of groundwater in the Empty Quarter and in the courses of some sedimentary shelf valleys.

He called on all specialists, interested people and citizens to obtain information about the nature of the ministry’s work from its correct sources. The spokesman stressed that the ministry is ready to provide the correct information to all, indicating that the ministry’s digital platforms are open to all visitors. The electronic portal of the ministry provides multiple reports and statistics, especially rainfall reports in addition to comprehensive data for the work of the ministry and its various sectors, he added.

SOURCE : SAUDI GAZETTE