Contaminated water causes disease, weak potentials for solving problem

The contaminated drinking water flowing to one of the towns in the rural area of Issa district in Girê Spî canton, causes the spread of diseases among the people, while the concerned authorities say that their scarce potential prevents solving the problem.

25 July, 2018 05:10

AHMAD AL-KAMIAN- TURKY AL-KALET / GIRÊ SPÎ

Residents of al-Hisha town (27 villages is related to it), east of Issa district, in Girê Sipî canton, in the Euphrates region, complain about the problem of contaminated drinking water they consume which led to the spread of several diseases among them.
The town and its villages are fed by a water pump that raises water of Tal al-Samen of the town, which empties the water from the al-Balikh irrigation channel (a 150-km water channel in the area), but the pump stopped working as a result of being vandalized by IS mercenaries before its defeat from the area, about a year and a half ago.

The suspension of the pump caused shortage in supplying the residents of the area with drinking water, in addition to the significant impact on agriculture, where the station water irrigated 16 thousand hectares of agricultural land, ANHA agency had prepared a report earlier about this subject:

By stopping the pump, the villagers were forced to buy water from the owners of the private tanks or the water tank of the People's Municipality, which did not meet the needs of the residents due to the large population census, but the water of the tanks is not subject to sterilization and filtering.

Non-sterile water has caused many diseases, notably diarrhea, especially for children and the elderly.

Ghazi al-Ayed and Rabaa al-Issa, residents of al-Hisha town, say that the stop of the water station enforced them to buy water from tanks, which caused them many diseases because it was unsuitable for use and there was no alternative.

Besides, the absence of health awareness is the main reason of these diseases’ outbreak.

Hamidi al-Muhammad, the co-chair of the people's municipality said, "the water that comes to us is contaminated from the source and is not subject to any sterilization process, the solution is to operate Tal al-Samen pump, which feeds the town's station with drinking water and filters the water before sterilizing it before pumping into the grid.

Muhammad points out that the lack the potentials, caused the delay in solving the problem, confirming that they will coordinate with some organizations to maintenance the pump.

H/S

ANHA