Jeddah City with and without Sewerage: Cost Comparison

Fifty years ago, Jeddah, on the Red Sea Coast of Saudi Arabia, was a very small city. In recent decades it has grown rapidly but the sewerage system has not. As a result, there is extensive on-site wastewater disposal, which raises the ground-water table, and as this reaches the surface, it damages property and health. The cost falls on private and public sectors. The costs, damages, and losses from the use of cesspools are estimated and compared with the costs of proper sewerage over the next 50 years. The present value cost of the cesspool system exceeds that of sanitary sewerage by an estimated factor of 4.5 in the developed area and 1.1 in the undeveloped. Sanitary sewerage for the whole city should have the highest priority; delay will increase the final cost.