The Royal Commission in Jubail reviews its experience in preserving the environment in accordance with international standards
The Director of the Environmental Protection and Control Department at the Royal Commission in Jubail, Engineer Awaid bin Simhan Al-Rashidi, affirmed that the Royal Commission pays great attention to the environmental issue and carries out a set of activities to reach the highest standards of monitoring and preserving the environment in water and air, waste management, noise control and scientific disposal of hazardous materials And it has obtained international certificates in this regard.
This came during a meeting organized by the Asharqia Chamber, within the activities of the Environment Committee for the year 2020, on Wednesday morning (11 November 2020), as the most prominent features of the Environmental Protection and Monitoring Program of the Royal Commission in Jubail were reviewed, and the meeting was moderated by the Chairman of the Chamber's Environment Committee, Talal bin Sultan Al-Rasheed, with the active participation of Committee members and a number of followers and interested parties.
During the meeting, Al-Rashidi reviewed the most important environmental standards that the Royal Commission in Jubail adheres to, starting from the comprehensive environmental survey of the city through the issuance of environmental standards that the authority follows, as well as a full explanation of the comprehensive environmental monitoring program that the Environmental Protection and Control Department carries out for all elements of the environment, including air and water. And industrial, environmental, natural, and other waste, as well as clarifying the steps and method for issuing environmental licenses for industrial facilities, according to which the facilities adhere to all environmental standards of the authority after the establishment submits a study to assess the environmental impact of the project.
Al-Rashidi said that after the decision to establish it was issued in 1975, the authority adopted a set of environmental measures to cover industrial activities, as companies are obliged to apply the latest technologies available internationally to cover all types of industrial activities in the Authority’s cities, and in 1999 the first environmental standards were issued which are witnessing an update every five years, and the last update was in 2015, explaining that some of these standards are general, and some are related to air, water or waste, or hazardous materials, or filling, or noise.
He mentioned that the environmental permits issued by the authority and granted to factories are monitored, reviewed, and renewed every five years, with the aim of following up the implementation of environmental regulations and achieving effective control over the environmental situation of factories and the surrounding atmosphere in the city.
Regarding monitoring water quality in the authority’s cities, he said that monitoring is ongoing, which includes monitoring water quality in general, including cooling channels with seawater, groundwater, treated water, irrigation water, and drinking water.
Regarding industrial waste management, Al-Rashidi said that these wastes are monitored from their formation to their disposal, as the disposal process is carried out through a specialized sector in this regard, and that the Royal Commission conducts periodic inspections to follow up on waste management in factories, as the authority had set a clear goal for re Recycling 54% of the waste generated from factories during the current year 2020, which amounted to about 335 thousand tons by the end of last year because the authority in this regard is following a standard in which it is compatible with the state of Texas in recycling, which has been adopted since 2013.
On-air quality, he said that the Royal Commission monitors air quality continuously, as it has 10 fixed stations for monitoring air quality and meteorology that operate around the clock. These stations are directly linked to the central control room of the Environmental Protection and Control Department of the Royal Commission in Jubail, in addition to 3 mobile stations To respond to emergency situations that have been provided with modern equipment and devices, fixed and mobile, to handle environmental reports, in addition to the presence of a specialized fieldwork team to monitor air quality in the city.
As part of the procedures in this regard, Al-Rashidi said that the authority obliges all factories to apply the latest available global technologies to arbitrate emissions resulting from operational processes, and obliges them to install devices on the torches to measure the quantity and quality of the gas being burned to ensure the complete combustion process, as well as devices for measuring continuous emissions from chimneys and conduct An annual inspection of the operational performance of chimneys by specialized and accredited companies. The authority also obligated all operating factories to place emissions measurement devices at the factory borders, and fugitive emissions from operational operations are monitored and measured to ensure compliance with environmental standards.
It should be noted that the Royal Commission in Jubail has been awarded many awards at the regional and international levels in recognition of its efforts in the field of environmental protection, including the American certificate of accreditation for conforming to air quality with the requirements of the American Environmental Protection Organization, and the ISO 9001 certificate for operating air quality monitoring stations, etc.
