Main water station in NE Syria stops working due to armed factions’ encroachment
HASAKAH, Syria (North Press) – Alouk water station in the countryside of Sere Kaniye (Ras al-Ain) has ceased functioning, reportedly due to the encroachment on the electrical lines that provide the station with power, an official of the Water Directorate in Hasakah, northeast Syria, said on Monday.
Turkish-backed armed opposition factions have drawn electricity to their points and used up too much of it.
“The encroachments on the power line connecting Derbasiyah substation and the Alouk station led to its suspension,” Salwa Saleh, co-chair of the General Directorate of Drinking Water in Hasakah, told North Press.
Last week, the station stopped operating temporarily, due to the lack of water supply, and it was restarted the following day, according to Saleh.
Since the factions’ control over it in mid-October 2019, the station has been disrupted about 25 times, the last of which was that it stopped working for more than 80 days, from late June to mid-September.
The water supply is only enough to operate 14 wells out of 30, and two horizontal pumps out of eight, according to Saleh.
This violates the agreement concluded between the Autonomous Administration and Turkey under Russian mediation, which “constitutes operating the station at its full production capacity, and increasing the number of wells and pumps, respectively,” Saleh noted.
In mid-July, the United Nations called for “the resumption of water and electricity services and the protection of civilians’ access to water and sanitation in Syria.”
About one million people are at risk as a result of severe interruptions to the vital Alouk water station in northeast Syria, the UN stated.