Saudi Gazette RIYADH — The Italian Embassy in Riyadh, in collaboration with Prince Sultan University, organized “The Shapes of Water” (Trame d’Acqua) exhibition by La Triennale di Milano.
Saudi people are culturally educated and active in all cultural fields.” Speaking to Saudi Gazette Dr. Al-Yamani said: “Prince Sultan University is collaborating with La Triennale museum where they have the exhibition that moves around in the region and we thought it would be very helpful for the university as community service to focus on awareness of water.
Since Saudi Arabia has the challenges of water scarcity, we thought it would be very appropriate to bring it to the community through our students and faculties and open the exhibition to the public.
(It is important) to think about the use and the misuse of water as the government spends 25 percent of oil and gas revenues on water desalination, which is expected to reach 50 percent by 2030.
It is very important for Saudis to be aware of the importance of water and what the government has to go through to get them fresh water.
” The exhibition continues till Jan. 31 and aims to address the issue of water scarcity and the sustainable use of water, both themes being of particular relevance nowadays.
It features social design and product design items by international designers, as well as artists from the wider Mediterranean region, related to different uses of water.
Renowned Saudi artist and designer Noura Bouzo contributed to the exhibition by creating an original item inspired by the traditional Islamic water filters in use many centuries ago across the Arab region.
“The Shapes of Water” is an example of the thriving cultural partnership between Italy and Saudi Arabia and concludes the year-long cultural program promoted by the Italian Embassy in Riyadh within the framework of the “Italy, Cultures and the Mediterranean”, a project aimed at fostering dialogue between Italy and the wider Mediterranean region in the cultural sector.
La Triennale di Milano is a prestigious Italian cultural institution founded almost a century ago with the aim of promoting art and design applied to everyday life.

A letter sent this week from Wright-Patterson Air Force Base to the city of Dayton sheds more light on how the two parties are addressing potential water contamination emanating from the base and a city-owned site.
To date, the Air Force has spent more than $4 million in remediation efforts that included hundreds of sampling analyses on the monitoring wells.
PFOS and PFOA are components of many industrial and commercial products, including a legacy firefighting foam used by the Air Force and civilian airports to combat petroleum-based fires associated with aircraft fires.
"We continue to share your concerns with water contaminated by legacy firefighting foam," McDonald wrote to Dayton City Manager Shelley Dickstein.
According to McDonald, test results showed contaminant levels ranging from 3.7 to 1,285 parts per trillion were detected at the site, which is well above the EPA limit of 70 ppt.
At the base, the city’s monitoring network samples indicated low levels of PFAS — less than 10 ppt — well below what the EPA considers to be a health issue.
were previously identified at two drinking water wells at the base.
"In as much as the Air Force has conducted preliminary assessment at all our installations, accessing your own use of Aqueous Film Forming Foam will be valuable in understanding your future actions."
Based on these results, the EPA determined Wright-Patt and the fire training center may be a source of contamination.
Despite the possible threat of contamination, the EPA, the city and the Air Force have all said Dayton’s drinking water remains safe for consumption.