Securing drinking water the daily obsession of families in Hasakah as the Turkish occupation continues to cut off water supplies to the city

Securing drinking water has become the daily obsession of every family in the Syrian city of Hasakah as the Turkish occupation and its mercenaries continue to cut off water supplies from Allouk water station in the occupied city of Ras Al-Ayn to more than a million citizens.

This crisis continues to escalate, worsening the citizens’ suffering and adding more burdens to their life amid complete silence and inaction by the world and the international organizations over this crime committed by the Turkish regime.

Edwar Kato, a citizen from Hasakah with special needs, spoke to SANA about his suffering while trying to get water.

“The only way is to go and search for a water tank to get some water, I don’t have another choice. I feel exhausted from transferring the water and I can no longer bear this hardship. Because of my disability, I can’t carry more than one bottle; therefore, I have to go several times to the tank and get some water which is not enough for drinking and house use, so I have to strictly rationalize using it.”

“I can’t imagine how the families, that lost their breadwinner, can secure their needs in the light of the continuity of this crime,” he added.

 Oum Boushra, Edwar’s wife, said “we need a complete solution for the drinking water and the Allouk station problem. This suffering must end, because getting a tanker to fill our house’s water tank is almost impossible, as the number of the tanks that are currently working to fill the citizens’ house tanks can’t meet the increasing need for water. The city is big and water consumption is bigger and so the huge tanks placed in streets to provide water for citizens run out of water within less than an hour.”

Edwar’s family is only one example of the suffering of the locals in Hasakah who go out daily to find a way to secure water from the tanks provided by concerned parties in the governorate and by charities and NGOs.  

The Director of Water establishment in Hasakah Mahmoud Okla said that “the water crisis escalates as the Turkish occupation continues to stop pumping water from Allouk station. As an emergency solution, we are trying, in cooperation with all local authorities and relief organizations, to secure drinking water for the citizens in Hasakah through water tankers filled from “Nafasheh” water station, to the east of the city. This in turn, witnesses daily crowds of tanker owners.

Hamda Mustafa