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NEOM will be the first city in the world to feature a range of smart infrastructure that includes smart pressure, smart temperature, and smart water quality, the head of the Water Sector at the mega-city, Gavin Van Tonder, said.

“There are many places around the world where you have smart metering and maybe smart sensors. There’s no place in the world (except for NEOM) where you’re going to have smart pressure, smart temperature, smart water quality and smart flow all in one infrastructure,” Van Tonder added.

Van Tonder noted that while NEOM, a planned cross-border city in the Tabuk Province of northwestern Saudi Arabia, does not have access to fresh water, there are plans in place to create a completely water-automated network.

The project will help set up fountains around the region, build dams for recreational purposes, irrigate gardens around the city, and create canals.

One major part of the project includes using research and development technology that will allow the water collected to be utilized to irrigate saline-resistant crops and green belts around NEOM.

“Nobody really cares about water because they switch on a tap and it comes out, but you know there’s so much work that goes beyond that,” Van Tonder said.