Every day, al-Watan receives many written complaints from citizens living in various areas of the rural Tartous governorate. The complaints focus on the citizens’ severe suffering due to thirst, which stems from hours on end without water pumping from facilities that serve their cities and villages in rural Tartous. Other complaints relate to excessively long hours of electricity rationing or the lack of gasoline available at fuel stations.
Many people in rural Tartous complained that they only enjoy water once every 20 days or even every month; others said that water comes once per week, or every 10 days or more. They add that there are a few hours when the water pressure is weak and does not reach their tanks to fill them.
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The complaints that Al-Watan received included a major attack on the water center officials in the relevant areas, as well as project officials. Residents accused these figures of neither answering phone calls nor addressing complaints that residents have submitted to them, from the crisis’ beginning until now. Other complaints include demands for the responsible authorities to increase pumping hours and return water services to previous levels.
Officials’ response
Nizar Jabbour, the water foundation’s director-general, indicated that his organization is suffering many difficulties during this period. Most notably, there has been a decrease in the number of hours of electricity provision, to at most 21 out of 24 hours per day. This decrease has limited the amount of water produced and therefore created bottlenecks, especially in the governorate’s rural areas. In addition, the foundation has suffered from significant rises in exchange rates and therefore the cost of materials and spare parts, which has imposed severe financial burdens on its current and future budgets.
Jabbour pointed out that the gasoline allocated to the foundation is not enough to support its entire operations, amidst large-scale rationing of electricity. This has forced the foundation to reduce the gasoline allocations of service cars, at a time when it actually needs to increase its services. This challenge applies especially since the expansion of services in the governorate and the increased burden on technical construction sites.
This article was translated and edited by The Syrian Observer. The Syrian Observer has not verified the content of this story. Responsibility for the information and views set out in this article lies entirely with the author.
