Amid extremely hot weather | Residents in western Deir Ezzor complain of unavailability of drinking water over suspension of work in stations for long hours
Deir Ezzor province: SOHR sources have reported that the residents in areas controlled by the Autonomous Administration in the western countryside of Deir Ezzor have complained of the poor services in the region, especially the activation of water stations for only a few hours a day in light of the extremely hot weather and increasing consumption of water.
The families in the region have complained of the increase in the price of a tank of water from 1,500 SYP to 2,500 SYP. It is worth noting that a family needs five tanks of water to cover their needs for only one or two days, which cost 12,500 SYP. The price of a tank of water in areas adjacent the railway tracks and makeshift camps to the flank of the desert has reached 4,000 SYP.
Speaking to SOHR, a 40-year-old man known by his initials as A. G. from Muhaymidah village said, “I work in the water stations in different areas for one or two hours a day. Because of the small number of hours in which water stations are activated, the residents found themselves forced to buy drinking water from water trucks. Water delivered in those trucks are not purified, while the trucks are not available all the time, so residents sometimes have to wait for two days to get water from water trucks. My house is located nearly one kilometre away from the water station. However, we suffer from securing water to cover our needs.”
Another man known as K. A. from Al-Boazzam neighbourhood in Muhaymidah town told SOHR “we could not get clean and potable; and this poses a threat to the safety and lives of our children and families. Sometimes, we find impurities and harmful substances in water which we buy from shops, which make the water non-potable. The residents suffer from the lack of monitoring by relevant authorities, especially since water contains impurities that may affect the health of people, especially children and elders.”