Spread of diseases over curbing water of Euphrates River

On the banks of the Euphrates River in NE Syria, health centers receive on a daily basis hundreds of disease cases resulting from water pollution, which began to spread in abundance as a result of the water pollution of the Euphrates River and its transformation into swamps, while the Turkish occupation state continuing to seize large quantities of its water.

Al-Qanaya district, located 30 kilometers west of the city of Kobani, on the eastern bank of the Euphrates River depends directly on the Euphrates water as a source of drinking as well as irrigation of agricultural lands.

The health center in the district receives, on a daily basis, 6 to 8 cases of water poisoning as a result of the pollution of the Euphrates River water.

There are no drinking water networks in the area of Al-Qanaya district, where the water of the wells in the area is salty and unfit for drinking, so the residents are forced to draw Euphrates water by tankers and consume it for drinking and domestic use.

However, in recent years, with the Turkish occupation state sequestering large amounts of Euphrates water from the Syrian territories, the river's water content decreased, which led to its transformation into swamps and increased pollution, which negatively affected the health of the residents of the areas adjacent to the river bed.

Dr. Omar Fayyad Ahmed, director of the health center in Al-Qanaya district, said in an interview with ANHA agency, "The big problem lies in Turkey's withholding of the Euphrates water from the region, which affected agriculture as well as drinking water, because people draw it from the river, which has turned into a swamp."

He pointed out that they suffer from vomiting and diarrhea and last year there were also cases of cholera.

Dr. Omar Fayyad advised the people to put sterilization pills in the water tanks after filling them from the river water.

Ahmed also explained that: "As a result of the decrease in water and its impact on electricity generation people store foods in refrigerators to eat them at other times, but the lack of electricity leads to their spoilage and thus the occurrence of food poisoning."

According to the information obtained by ANHA agency, the health center in al-Qanaya district receives monthly at least 300 cases of poisoning caused by water pollution.

The spokesman for the Health Committee in Kobani canton, Alaeddin Kno Atto, revealed to ANHA agency that 391 cases of water poisoning were monitored in the month of May, most of which were in the areas adjacent to the banks of the Euphrates River, such as Sirin and Al-Qanaya district within the canton.

He pointed out that 719 cases of water poisoning were monitored last April, and the situation is getting worse with the onset of summer.

The Turkish occupation state uses the waters of the Euphrates River as a weapon against the Syrians, as it has been working for years to release no more than 200 cubic meters of water per second into Syrian territory, which is less than half of the amount agreed upon in 1987, which is estimated at 500 cubic meters per second.

Prevention of the Euphrates water led to a decrease in the levels of the lakes formed behind the dams and thus a decrease in the number of hours of electricity generation and the exit of large areas of agricultural lands from service due to the difficulty of water delivery to them, in addition to the occurrence of significant pollution in the river, which led to the spread of diseases.

In the summer of 2022, cholera disease spread in several areas in NE Syria. As a result of the large pollution in the course of the Euphrates River, dozens of cases of the disease have been recorded.

U.N Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in Syria, Imran Riza confirmed that the source of infection is linked to drinking unsafe water from the Euphrates River and watering crops with contaminated water.

In view of the Turkish occupation state's continued curbing the Euphrates waters, everyone is waiting for what will happen to the region with the advent of the summer season, which usually witnesses high temperatures, which will lead to a greater and wider spread of diseases resulting from water pollution.

a.k

ANHA