SAWACO — North Obhor SWRO Plant operational experience Original Research Article

Water is the most basic necessity of life. Unfortunately, water supplies are not always the water we expect them to be. The risk from contaminated water supplies from non-treated water sources are high and may cause health problems. Today, due to increasing demand from industry, a rapidly growing population, and climatic changes resulting in very little rainfall over the past few years, public desalination plants are struggling to provide enough freshwater for the communities needs. The current process of bringing water from natural wells is insufficient to cater the demand of large Saudi cities, and obviously the price is not affordable, especially during the periods of high demand. In response to the needs of peoples, families and business, Saudi Brothers Commercial Company established a water producing and supplying company capable of providing good quality water, free from salt and odor at an affordable price and a delivery service that could depend on. SAWACO has in North Obhor, Jeddah, its state-of-the-art facility equipped with advanced technology processes at every stage of production. North Obhor Plant, one among many to be established, has been designed and engineered by internationally recognized companies to provide 12,500 m3/day of potable desalinated water. Used technology ensures high-quality water conforming strictly to international standards. SAWACO assures quality water surpasses the standards set by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Saudi Arabia Standard Organization (SASO). In recognition of SAWACO’s advancement to such high-production standards, SAWACO is the first commercial water production plant to operate in the Kingdom under a license awarded by the Ministry of Water. North Obhor Seawater Reverse Osmosis (SWRO) Plant was built in three phases. Raw water is extracted from deep wells. There are 5 SWRO trains in total and 2 BWRO trains. Phase I and Phase III are equipped with Hydranautics membranes. Two trains of Phase I are equipped with SWC1 membranes. Operation started in February 2002 and plant is in continuous operation since start up. Both trains of Phase I perform according to expectations and produce full capacity and requested quality. No cleaning took place up to date. The latest expansion – Phase III started in April 2006 and is equipped with Hydranautics SWC4+ membranes. Paper will present long-term operational experience with SWC1 as well as will describe experience with start up and performance of new generation membranes – SWC4+.