Amid water shortages, Çil Axa launches campaign to curb violations

Çil Axa, in the Jazira Canton, relies on 11 artesian wells to provide residents with drinking water. The wells operate using various energy sources, including solar power, diesel generators and the public electricity grid. However, rising fuel prices and the shortage of subsidized diesel, along with increased electricity rationing, have affected the wells’ ability to operate and pump water into the network.

According to statistics compiled by the city’s Water Department, around 50 percent of Çil Axa’s neighborhoods suffer from drinking water shortages, while water consumption increases during the summer. Reduced electricity supply hours have further complicated the department’s efforts to provide water to different neighborhoods.

The causes of water shortages are not limited to problems operating the wells. During its field inspections, the Water Department identified several violations of the network, including failure to install taps to shut off water sources and the use of illegal suction pumps, locally known as “pumps”, which draw large quantities of water from the network and affect supplies reaching other homes.

The department also detected the use of drinking water intended for household consumption to irrigate large areas of agricultural land and grow vegetables. This practice depletes water supplies and affects residents’ share.

During the campaign, the Water Department issued violations against several households using drinking water to irrigate large areas of vegetables. It also worked to remove illegal connections and seize pumps that affect the distribution of water.

While monitoring the campaign, Manal Al-Mazhour, administrator of the Çil Axa Water Department, told our agency that the campaign was launched “to organize the distribution of drinking water and ensure that it reaches all residents fairly and equally, especially during the summer, when people need more water.”

She explained that the water shortage had worsened as a result of the new electricity rationing system, which provides electricity for only nine hours a day. Electricity cuts to the wells, she said, cause the city’s water network and tanks to run dry.

She added that residents’ use of “thief pumps” to draw additional water for irrigating large areas of vegetables affects the share available to other households. She stressed that stopping these violations aims to ensure that water reaches all residents during the nine-hour period when the wells operate.

Manal Al-Mazhour said the Water Department had discussed with the Çil Axa Electricity Administration the possibility of allocating an exceptional electricity line exclusively to the wells, but the request was rejected. This has increased pressure on the department amid growing complaints from residents about water not reaching their homes.

She clarified that the campaign does not target pumps used in multi-storey buildings, as ordinary pumps cannot lift water to all parts of such buildings. Instead, it targets single-storey homes. However, violations involving water wastage or connecting two drinking water lines to a single home also apply to building owners.

Al-Mazhour called on the Çil Axa Electricity Directorate to reconsider the rationing decision, saying that reduced electricity hours are the main reason water does not reach all homes equally. She noted that the shortage pushes some residents to use illegal methods to obtain water, resulting in other households losing part of their water supply.

Electricity Situation

On the reason for not granting the Water Department an exceptional electricity line for the city’s wells, Dilkesh Hajo, an administrator at the Çil Axa Electricity Department, told our agency that the rationing system was issued by the Electricity Directorate in Hasakah Governorate.

He said the Kri Fati substation, affiliated with the city of Tel Kocher, had been instructed to implement the system in order to provide electricity to villages south of Çil Axa that had been deprived of power.

“We, as the Çil Axa Electricity Department, were only informed of the rationing hours so that we could distribute them among the communes and inform residents about the new electricity rationing system in Çil Axa,” Hajo said.

On the Water Department’s demand for an exceptional line for the water wells, Hajo explained that the request had been rejected by the Hasakah Electricity Directorate, noting that granting exceptional lines could lead to violations involving the designated line. He stressed that the aim was to ensure a fair distribution of electricity.

The campaign comes as several Çil Axa neighborhoods continue to suffer from poor water access, including the Masraf neighborhood, which has around 100 homes, and the Jawadiya Ghamr neighborhood, where residents have been forced to rely on water tankers to meet their needs.

The Çil Axa Water Department’s campaign is expected to continue across the city’s various neighborhoods, aiming to curb violations and regulate the use of the drinking water network.

a.k

ANHA