HASAKAH, Syria (North Press) – Abdullah al-Salem regularly drags several water barrels that he filled from the main tank in his Hasakah neighborhood, in northeast Syria. That is how he fills his household water tank, a task he has had to repeat nearly every day since the Turkish-affiliated opposition factions, known as the Syrian National Army (SNA), seized the Alouk water pumping station in 2019.
Abdullah al-Salem’s family of five now primarily relies on water from tanks filled periodically by NGOs or on the salty and bitter water of wells in their neighborhood.
“For the past five years, the situation regarding the Alouk water has gotten increasingly worse. While pumping operations resumed about a month and a half ago, there are still discrepancies in the distribution of water. Some areas receive water while it is being pumped, but unfortunately, we are living in the areas that the water does not reach,” the 48-year-old man told North Press.
“If the NGOs did not put up these tanks, we would have died of thirst. I have three families living in my house. If I bought water, the price of a 1000-liter tank [265 gallons] would be no less than 15,000 to 16,000 SYP [$1.50-1.60]. Every week, we consume two tanks of water, which amounts to 30,000 SYP [$3],” he told North Press.
The 39-year-old Alia Saadoun, like the rest of Hasakah’s residents, suffers under the water shortage. Burdened by the cost of living, she cannot afford to buy water from the mobile water tank.
Like other residents of the neighborhood, Saadoun, living with six other relatives, waits for the owners of private wells to operate their wells, so that she can fill her available household containers with salt water.
“We have to drink this water and use it for cleaning and washing clothes. We wait for the organizations to fill the tank they installed in the neighborhood, but there are huge crowds and we may not be able to fill ours,” she said.
Loay Muhammad, a resident of al-Nashwa neighborhood in Hasakah city, complains about the scarcity of the water pumping from Alouk water station.
“We forgot about obtaining water from Alouk station. We mainly rely on water from organizations’ tankers, we rely on organizations and salt water from wells,” he told North Press.
Burdened by the cost of living like most of Hasakah’s resident, especially those with limited income, Muhammad has to buy five barrels of water every three days for 15,000 SYP ($1.50).
“It is too expensive for me, I buy water for 150,000 SYP [$15] per month. I am a worker, I make only 200,000 SYP [$20] per month,” he told North Press.
However, the lack of water and lack of resources prompted Muhammad to drink bitter and salty water, which causes many diseases.
Residents dragging barrels across the streets of Hasakah have become a common sight since Turkey took control of the Alouk water station, as it controls the quantities of incoming water.
Since 2019, Turkey and the Turkish-backed SNA have cut off water coming from Alouk station to Hasakah and its countryside over 30 times.
In 2019, the Turkish forces and the SNA factions launched the so-called “Peace Spring” military operation, when it occupied Ras al-Ain (Sere Kaniye) and its countryside.
The water from the Alouk station is the main water source that feeds the cities and towns of Hasakah and its suburbs, Tel Tamr and Hawl, as there are no large bodies of fresh water in Hasakah.
Nawar Mahmoud Sabri, the co-chair of the General Directorate of Drinking Water in Hasakah, told North Press that the weak pumping of water to the neighborhoods is due to the lack of water received from Alouk station.
The process of filling the main tank with a capacity of 30,000 mᵌ at al-Hamma station takes three to four days, and thus the pumping process is weak due to the lack of supplies.
As this continues, the process of distributing water to the seven sectors, six inside Hasakah and one in Tel Tamr, takes about 20 days, meaning that water reaches the residents once, at a pumping rate of only a few hours, every 20 days or more, according to Sabri.