Well project in Hasakah, Syria begins pumping water to eastern neighborhoods, alleviating pressure from Turkish water deprivation campaign

HASAKAH, Syria — In an interview with North Press Agency, Sozdar Ahmed, Co-Chair of the Water Directorate for Hasakah Canton, stated that the Directorate had begun pumping water to the western neighborhoods of Hasakah city two weeks after Turkey cutoff the city’s main source of water, the Alouk pumping station located in Turkish-occupied Rish Ayno (Ras al-Ayn).

Several days ago, water began being pumped into the eastern neighborhoods of the city.

Servicing between half-a-million and a million people, the water pumped from Alouk has been repeatedly shutoff by Turkish forces.

To help alleviate the water shortage, the local administration of Hasakah city has planned a series of wells to be dug throughout the city. However, the project had to be put on hold due to the coronavirus. “In April, we dug many shallow wells, but the work was halted due to the spread of coronavirus pandemic and the closure of the border crossings, said Sozdar Ahmed in July.

In a statement to SyriacPress earlier this month, Nazira Goreya gave an update on the status of the well-digging project:

“A delegation from the Executive Council, the Water Directorate, and members of the Municipal and Provincial Authority visited the Al-Hemah well project, in which 50 wells were drilled to alleviate the water crisis in Hasakah. In a maximum of 10 days, these wells will be in service and other projects are being worked on to alleviate the suffering of the people of Hasakah.”

Ahmed added that the water supply from Alouk station is weak and that the city is relying on the Al-Hema station to supply water to the city.

Khaled Hami, an administrator with the Water Directorate of Tel Tamr, said several days ago to North Press that they had cut the supply of water from the town of Tel Tamr and rerouted it towards Hasakah city, although it would take several days for the water to reach Hasakah due to the low pressure in the main water lines.

Hasakah and the surrounding countryside have suffered from water shortages for several months due to frequent water outages at the Alouk station and the intentionally reduced flow of the Euphrates River.

By restricting the flow through its upstream dams, Turkey has severely reduced the amount of water flowing in the Euphrates River to drought-like levels.