AIN ISSA, Syria (North Press) – Asia fears for her children since they drink water from unsafe sources in light of cholera outbreak in the areas in northeastern Syria.
The 38-year-old, Asia Ramadan, a mother of six children and a resident of the town of Ain Issa, 50 km north of Raqqa, suffers like many others from water shortage so she is forced to buy drinking water from tankers.
Ramadan told North Press that despite the lack of water they buy from tankers, it is not sterilized and may cause children to get infected.
She added that the majority of people, including children and elderly, suffer from cases of poisoning, diarrhea and kidney diseases due to the contaminated water.
Residents of Ain Issa voice concern over cholera outbreak in the region due to contamination of drinking water, demanding authorities to sterilize it since they depend on tankers’ water for drinking.
She noted, “We sometimes obtain red water and sometimes we obtain contaminated and undrinkable water…I do not have money to buy bottle water.”
She called on Water Department in Ain Issa to secure sterilized water from safe and clean source in light of diseases spread.
Ain Issa residents depend on “unsafe water sources” due to the extensive destruction of the infrastructure in addition to the lack of sewage networks due to war and Turkish shelling.
Following Turkish “Peace Spring” invasion of Sere Kaniye (Ras al-Ain) and Tel Abyad in 2019, Ain Issa and other areas in northeastern Syria have been witnessing successive Turkish shelling.
The 70-year-old, Ghazi al-Mudahi, a resident of Ain Issa, said that water has not reached his house and others houses since 2016, causing a water crisis.
Al-Mudahi said he buys unclean water from “tankers” at 1.000 SYP per barrel, increasing burdens of the residents, especially in light of the dire living conditions.
He added, “Diseases spread in the region including cholera and others,” noting that tankers’ water is undrinkable that grows residents’ fears for their children.
As cholera cases have begun to spread in areas in northeastern Syria, Health Board of Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES) called for the need to sterilize drinking water and wash vegetables with chlorine before eating them.
Cholera spreads in areas that witness severe water shortage or poor sewage networks, and it is an disease caused by drinking contaminated water or food, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).
The 35-year-old, Fatima Dawood, another resident of Ain Issa, called for securing drinking water in the town and extending water networks and sterilizing them.
Daowood said, “There is an increase in diseases, where the residents take their children to hospitals on a daily basis, they suffer from dehydration and poisoning.”
She noted that water from tankers of the Water Directorate is not clean and often mixed with dirt.
The contaminated water with impurities has caused many diseases other than cholera such as stone in kidney and poisoning cases.
The 40-year-old, Muhammad Khalaf, a tanker driver who operates in the Water Directorate, sales water in Ain Issa and distributes drinking water.
He brings it [water] from al-Falahiya well whose water is murky in the morning.
He added, “It needs 4 to 5 hours to become drinkable” so the residents complain about the well unclean water.
In Ain Issa, only three tankers distribute water to residents and they cannot cover the increasing demands for water, forcing them to distribute murky water.
Khalaf highlighted that “water reaches some places and some others do not obtain water.”
He called on authorities to “help in securing water.”