Job Discussion Forums

james · Joined: 16 Jan 2003 Posts: 44

Can anyone who has lived in Jubail in the recent past or who is living there presently please tell me if there are any problems with air quality in Jubail? I have a ten year old son that has respiratory problems and I do want to take him somewhere that could aggrevate his condition. I simply do not know enough about Jubail and the Industrial City to know if the air quality is good or bad. Any help would be appreciated.

james · Joined: 16 Jan 2003 Posts: 44

I made to little typo in my posting. I meant that I DO NOT want to teke my child somewhere that could aggrevate his condition.

james · Joined: 16 Jan 2003 Posts: 44

Is the air pollution bad in Jubail?

veiledsentiments · Joined: 20 Feb 2003 Posts: 17644 Location: USA

I don't know anything about Jubail, but are you aware that you can easily edit your post if you make a mistake or want to add anything. There is a little icon in the upper right corner of each message that allows you back in to it.

VS

Stephen Jones · Joined: 21 Feb 2003 Posts: 4124

Where the college accomodation is I have never noticed any pollution. On the other hand where I lived before only three or four kilometers away when the factories were on shutdown it was noticeable.

It's certainly better than Beijin or Bangkok, and they have scientists permanently monitoring the air quality. That said, it is a petro-chemical complex, and if your son already has respiratory problems it wouldn't seem like the ideal place.

medway · Joined: 08 Apr 2005 Posts: 17

Hi to Stephen. You can probably guess who I am. I think James should be told unambiguously that Jubail is definitely polluted by the local industry, and there is a smell of chemicals in the air most days. I met one of these
" scientists permanently monitoring the air quality " and he of course gave out the company line that the air is clean, but my personal experience is the opposite.

Nomad Dan · Joined: 17 Feb 2003 Posts: 145 Location: Myanmar

I'm not an air quality expert, but I would add that I thought Jubail's air was much cleaner than the air in Mexico City or Seoul or Bangkok....Jubail at its worse, the other cities at their best. I used to actually run in Jubail and the pollution didn't bother me, much....
###cough###
Cheers,
Dan el Nomadico

The Barbarian · Joined: 03 May 2005 Posts: 21

I would have thought that it would be obvious that the air quality would be horrendous in an expanding industrial area. It's well known that Saudi children succumb to the pollution in Jubail and it should be avoided.

Nomad Dan · Joined: 17 Feb 2003 Posts: 145 Location: Myanmar

I think that there are bad chemicals in the air at times, but since there are no mountains to hold it in, that it blows away...and that the fact that the population density is low maybe....
You are probably right though, it is bad. I would not think it wise to go there if you had respiratory probs. Then again, I wouldn't recommend Dallas either...and Bush is just assuring that it will all get worse here.

ZARDOZ · Joined: 12 Nov 2005 Posts: 9 Location: The Magic Kingdom

JAMES JOYCE · Posted: Thu Jan 18, 2007 1:15 pm Post subject:

Has anyone heard a whisper about the next purge?Anything overheard in Arabic?

Jolly Green Giant · Joined: 01 Aug 2006 Posts: 22

There is pollution in Jubail. However, it is nowhere near obvious. I notice it only sometimes. Employees at the industrial plants here say that it is mostly ammonia. Most of the waste is treated and cleaned up. If there is pollution, I am not effected by it at all. Neither has anyone mentioned to me that they themselves are effected either. But I have heard of people who are. For example:

Very recently, a family from the JIC moved out of Jubail to Damman since the pollution appeared to be the cause of pain in the bones and joints of one of the family members. Another was an elderly lady I got to know personally who was visiting Jubail for four months last year. She suffered terrible arthritical pain in her body. On returning home to her country of origin, the condition disappeared and she returned to normal. To this day, she is fine.

The problem, I am told, is that the residential area was built much too close to the industrial complex. For health reasons it should really have been built 15 kilometers away. In Jubail, the nearest and the oldest residential area which serves the JIC and other colleges is about 5 km away. From there and in the old town, you can smell fumes. Elsewhere in the residential area you really cannot.

Another is that the two areas are not separated by a large green zone or belt, as they ought to be. Forests and green areas provide a natural barrier to pollution drift and of course improve the air quality. Industrial Jubail is green and very attractive but there has been no attempt to erect pollution barriers. Perhaps that is because effective clean-up measures are already in use in local plants and therefore planting up a green belt would be superfluous. I believe this in fact is the case.

Jubail though is growing. How will adding more industrial plants in Jubail 2 impact the pollution levels and are there steps being taken to avoid excessive increases?

All said and done, I do feel fine and day-to-day if there is any pollution here, I am not impacted by it all, not even one iota.

KSA-UK · Joined: 03 May 2005 Posts: 31 Location: Sandy Arabia

Hi,

What about Yanbu? Is the air pollution affecting people?
Both Yanbu and Jubail are Industrial cities built ina very similar way I presume...I've heard that many children suffer from asthma due the high level of pollution. Is that true? Is the air really 'monitored" as they pretend?

AGATHA · Joined: 03 Dec 2006 Posts: 45 Location: DAMMAM

JAMES JOYCE · Posted: Wed Jan 24, 2007 5:59 am Post subject: