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Syria
A boy drinks while holding a piece of bread inside a school building where Syrians displaced from Ras al-Ain, a border town controlled by Turkey and its Syrian proxies, are staying in the city of Hasaka on August 20, 2020. Photo: Delil Souleiman/AFP
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – The coronavirus continues to spread in northeastern Syria (Rojava) as the local administration struggles to keep water flowing out of the taps. It is working to get 50 new wells online to compensate for water cuts from a distribution station controlled by Turkey.
On Friday, 27 new COVID-19 cases and one death were recorded by Rojava’s health board. Jwan Mustafa, co-chair of the board, said the new data brings the total number of cases to 280. Seventeen people have died of the virus.
Authorities have imposed a lockdown and persons not wearing a face mask in public could be fined 1,000 Syrian pounds ($1.95).
Maintaining basic hygiene is crucial to preventing spread of the virus, but that is a challenge in Hasaka which has not had a sustained water supply since Turkey seized control of the Alouk water station during its military campaign last October. Turkish-backed forces have regularly withheld water from areas under the control of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Force (SDF). Ankara-backed militants have suggested supplying water in exchange for electricity, a proposal dismissed by the Kurds.
Residents of Hasaka told Rudaw last week they have gone 18 days without water piped into their homes and have been forced to buy it from tankers selling water extracted from wells. But prices are high and not everyone can afford the tanker water, which is in limited supply.
Sozdar Ahmed, co-chair of the water network in Hasaka, told Rudaw they have drilled five wells and will drill 45 more to meet the city’s needs.
“If all 50 wells are ready, we can say that 30 percent of the water shortage in Hasaka city will be resolved,” she said. However, people will only be able to receive water once every ten days, she added.
The wells supply water to the Hema redistribution station, which came online this week for a trial, according to the Rojava Information Centre.
On Friday, 27 new COVID-19 cases and one death were recorded by Rojava’s health board. Jwan Mustafa, co-chair of the board, said the new data brings the total number of cases to 280. Seventeen people have died of the virus.
Authorities have imposed a lockdown and persons not wearing a face mask in public could be fined 1,000 Syrian pounds ($1.95).
Maintaining basic hygiene is crucial to preventing spread of the virus, but that is a challenge in Hasaka which has not had a sustained water supply since Turkey seized control of the Alouk water station during its military campaign last October. Turkish-backed forces have regularly withheld water from areas under the control of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Force (SDF). Ankara-backed militants have suggested supplying water in exchange for electricity, a proposal dismissed by the Kurds.
Residents of Hasaka told Rudaw last week they have gone 18 days without water piped into their homes and have been forced to buy it from tankers selling water extracted from wells. But prices are high and not everyone can afford the tanker water, which is in limited supply.
Sozdar Ahmed, co-chair of the water network in Hasaka, told Rudaw they have drilled five wells and will drill 45 more to meet the city’s needs.
“If all 50 wells are ready, we can say that 30 percent of the water shortage in Hasaka city will be resolved,” she said. However, people will only be able to receive water once every ten days, she added.
The wells supply water to the Hema redistribution station, which came online this week for a trial, according to the Rojava Information Centre.
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