Syria’s Manbij neighborhoods suffer successive water cut-off
MANBIJ, Syria (North Press) – Because water does not reach his neighborhood, Hussein Radwan, 36, a resident of al-Mazerli neighborhood, northwest Manbij city, north Syria, has been forced to buy each five barrels (1,000 L) of drinking water at 5,000 Syrian pounds (SYP, around 1,60 US dollar) per day for three months.
Residents in the city of Manbij say that their neighborhoods are suffering of successive cut-off of drinking water in conjunction with the high temperatures and increasing need of water at this period of the year.
Meanwhile, several neighborhoods in Manbij are witnessing the same problem.
Radwan said that the mechanism of pumping water to the neighborhoods of Manbij is not equitable, and that the distribution of water must be divided equally.
Manbij houses 115,000 families that are distributed in 25 neighborhoods in the city and 200 villages.
Tankers’ owners fill each barrel of 220 liter at 200 SYP (about 15 cents) with water from wells and they sell it at 1,000 SYP (about 31 cents).
“The city of Manbij is located at the end of the water pipe coming from al-Babiri water station, 40 km south of the city, which is in the Syrian government-held areas,” Abir al-Barho, co-chair of Water Corporation in Manbij, said.
The water supply is witnessing a large deficit now especially in the summer of each year when the peak of water consumption is high.
Al-Barho attributed the reason of deficit to the expansion in water network in the city and the countryside.
“The only solution is to extend a new line next to the old one, and the project is under study, awaiting approval to start,” she added.
However, the official did not elaborate about the starting date or the duration of the project.