Blockages delay Euphrates water line to Syria’s Hasakah
HASAKAH, Syria (North Press) – On Monday, a local official in the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria denied that water from the Euphrates River had reached the city of Hasakah through Aziziyah station, saying that problems emerged due to blockages in the installed pipes years ago.
“The work teams at the 47 water station on Sunday evening operated the station and pumped water towards Hasakah city for testing, but shortly after that it turned out that there were blockages,” said Aldar Muhammad, the co-chair of the Municipalities and Environment Committee in Hasakah region.
The efforts are continuing to deliver water to Hasakah’s neighborhoods, he told North Press.
Late on Sunday evening, local media and social media accounts said that water would reach Aziziyah station in hours.
Muhammad pointed out that “the workshops are working to find out the location of the blockage and repair it and pump the water again to see if the line connecting to Aziziyah station is ready, or if there are other blockages.”
“If there are no problems in the lines, the water will reach Hasakah city today,” he stressed.
At the beginning of 2021, the Autonomous Administration began working on a project to bring water from the Euphrates to the city of Hasakah to alleviate the suffering of the population as a result of the Turkish army stopping the operation of the Alouk wells station in the countryside of Sere Kaniye (Ras al-Ain) for more than 15 times, since its control over the area in mid-October in 2019 with the affiliated opposition factions.
The project, which included four phases, was scheduled to be completed within three months, at a financial cost of one and a half million dollars, according to a previous statement of the Autonomous Administration.
However, the emergence of many problems such as farmers and residents in the southern countryside drawing water illegally from the lines towards their homes or agricultural lands, in addition to the presence of blockages in the line, prevented the project from being completed within the specified time period.
The length of the lines from al Sour station in the eastern countryside of Deir ez-Zor to the city of Hasakah is estimated at 130 km.
“This project is not an alternative to Alouk water station; rather, it is an emergency case to secure only about 15 percent of the water needs of the residents of Hasakah,” the co-chair of the Municipalities and Environment Committee said.