MAKKAH: The Al-Zamazameh Company has set out its operation plan for this year’s Hajj season, including discontinuing the distribution of 20-liter Zamzam water bottles to pilgrims and replacing them with 330-ml capacity ones.
The company, which falls under the supervision of the Ministry of Hajj and Umrah, said that this year’s plans were in line with Vision 2030 and the great interest that the Saudi government paid to pilgrims to help them perform their rituals easily and safely.
Hassan Mahmoud Abu Al-Faraj, a member of the company’s board of directors, said the smaller water bottles would be more accessible and easier for pilgrims.
The first part of this year’s Hajj season plan includes preparing Zamzam distribution sites at key entry points to Makkah, with two cold bottles for each pilgrim.
He added that supervisors and workers would be recruited to distribute Zamzam packages to pilgrims upon their arrival at guidance centers so that Zamzam would be the first water consumed by pilgrims.
In the program’s second part, the company will distribute 330-ml Zamzam bottles to pilgrim accommodation, with three bottles made available to each pilgrim daily.
This part will be carried out through a digital program that facilitates access to pilgrim accommodation and confirms the process of pilgrims receiving the water.
There will also be internal and field control centers to follow up and ensure the daily arrival of Zamzam to pilgrim accommodation until their departure.
He noted that in coordination with the General Presidency for the Affairs of the Two Holy Mosques, Zamzam water would be transported from Kudai in Makkah to the site of the company’s automated filling center.
Zamzam is discharged from water tankers by high-pressure suction pumps in a cylindrical tank made of iron lined with glass.
The tank has a diameter of 6 meters, a height of 7 meters, and a capacity of 200 cubic meters. The water passed through a sand filter, a cylindrical body made of carbon iron coated with several layers of epoxy internally and externally, with a diameter of 2.6 meters and a height of 1.5 meters.
The filter and high-power pumps remove any impurities that may be stuck in Zamzam during its transfer.
Abu Al-Faraj said the automated filling center had obtained quality standards, and the company also had an ISO quality certificate for administrative work.
Quality, safety, and specifications standards were also applied in the automated filling center that manufactured the Zamzam water bottles in coordination with the Saudi Geological Survey.
