In conjunction with civil protests in Qamishlo…the Water Department comments on the problem of water shortage in the city

The Water Department in the city of Qamishlo / Al-Qamishli said, on Monday, during a press conference, that it has almost solved the water problem in the city by 80%, and work is underway on the remaining water problems.

The conference came after protests by the people of “Al-Haliliyah” neighborhood in the city, and the residents’ closure of the public road, in protest against the continued water outage for the second week.

The Water Department said in the press conference, a copy of which was obtained by ASO News Network, that it is working to solve the water problem in Al-Haliliyah neighborhood as well.

The water problem has turned into a crisis in the city of Qamishlo over the past few days, as the crisis began about ten days ago, and officials say that the reason is due to electrical malfunctions, as the southern station in the city was exposed to malfunctions as a result of weather factors.

The Water Department in Qamishlo says that there are three stations that supply the city, namely “Jaqjaq,” “Awija,” and “Al-Haliliyah.” The reason for cutting off water in many neighborhoods is due to the old infrastructure in the city, and the failure to replace water lines that have been considered damaged for a long time ago.

The Water Department said that it is working to allocate tanks to distribute water to people in neighborhoods to which water has not been delivered, until maintenance operations are completed.

Residents complain about the prices of water tanks, and residents say that the crisis constituted exploitation by tank owners by increasing the price of filling in a way that is described as significant.

The Water Department called on people to rationalize the use of water, as temperatures rise in the summer, considering that rationalization helps secure water for all neighborhoods.

The city witnessed a major water crisis in the “Al-Gharbiyah”, “Al-Haliliyah”, “Halko”, “Al-Syahi”, “Al-Muathafeen” and “Al-Kornich” neighborhoods).

According to the residents, the response from the concerned authorities is weak, and that the hours of pumping drinking water are few, and not enough to fill the home’s tank, which forces them to request water from mobile tanks, the prices of which have increased from 30,000 Syrian pounds per tank (1,000 litres) to more than 50 thousand liras.

The joint head of the Water Directorate in Al-Jazira region, “Khorshid Oso,” explained in a previous statement last Friday to ASO News Network, that the disruption of the electricity networks feeding the water wells led to the cessation of pumping during the recent period, and that the generators used to feed the wells are not sufficient to cover the entire water networks.

At the time, he stressed in his speech that the water problem would be solved in the coming hours, with the start of the return of the Al-Haliliyah, Jaqjaq and Al-Awija stations to work, after repairing the faults and stabilizing the electricity delivery hours.