Mahmoud Obeid returned home after a long day of hard work in construction only to find that his water tank was completely empty.

“I was eagerly waiting for the water supply to wash clothes, fill the tank, and take a shower,” said Obeid (37 years old), a resident of Idlib city, to Enab Baladi. He was surprised to discover that the water was not being pumped.

After asking his neighbors, they informed him that the water supply had stopped. He went out to the streets in search of a water truck, but the trucks coming to the city refused to meet his needs, citing their commitment to their regular customers. His attempts to secure water after running behind the trucks at the city entrances were unsuccessful.

Obeid’s situation reflects a part of what the residents of Idlib city are experiencing after the supporting organization’s water pumping project halted, leading to a high demand for the few available water trucks in the city, which cannot meet the increasing needs of the population.

Rising costs

The halt in water supply to the city has caused a crisis, leading to concern among residents, as the few available trucks fail to meet the demand, and water prices have soared, reaching 75 Turkish lira (2.2 US dollars) per cubic meter instead of 60 lira before the crisis.

Mohammad al-Qadi (48 years old), a resident of Idlib city, told Enab Baladi that securing water has become a new concern and an exhausting expense added to his daily life struggles amid the crushing cost of living. He noted that he needs ten barrels (approximately two cubic meters) of water weekly for his family of seven.

This means that al-Qadi needs 150 lira weekly (600 lira monthly) for the cost of water filling, which equals his weekly wage.

Furthermore, Abdul Rahim Suleiman (41 years old), also a resident of Idlib city, indicated that the hardship doesn’t stop at water prices; it becomes more challenging to convince truck owners to meet requests, as they refuse under the pretext of serving their regular customers. “This requires us to stand for long hours in the streets in hopes that one of them will agree,” he said to Enab Baladi.

Some truck owners also refuse to enter narrow neighborhoods, claiming they cannot come back out, and they also reject using long hoses for residents living in higher floors, alleging that the hoses are not long enough. This forces homeowners to pay additional amounts.

Truck owners that Enab Baladi met justified the price increases “simply” due to additional costs in fetching water from nearby regions surrounding Idlib.

Promises to resume pumping soon

The water crisis in Idlib city recurs at the end of each project from supporting organizations without addressing the roots of the issue. There are talks about the Public Foundation For Drinking Water’s intention to install water meters for paid water supply to residents.

According to engineer Jamal Dibban, Deputy Director of the Public Foundation For Drinking Water in Idlib, on October 14, the Ihsan organization, which supports the water pumping project in Idlib city, informed the foundation about the project’s end and the halt of water supply, with promises to resume pumping soon.

Dibban clarified to Enab Baladi that the pumping stations require urgent and essential maintenance that was postponed to avoid interrupting the supply during the project. He mentioned that the foundation is taking advantage of the downtime to perform necessary maintenance.

He noted that the foundation has completed maintenance on all transformers, replaced many valves, and repaired those that were not replaced. “In a very short time, the repairs to the damaged lines will be concluded.”

The engineer confirmed that the Public Foundation For Drinking Water is committed to supplying the city with water even if the supporting bodies do not resume the pumping projects after the maintenance work is finished, denying any connection between resuming the supply and the planned installation of meters.

Dibban considered that installing meters is a sanitary measure in cities and helps resolve the crisis at its roots, though it is a long-term solution requiring extensive stages, such as purchasing meters, distributing them, and securing substantial funds to acquire the necessary quantities.

The authority set technical conditions for the meters and tested various models as a first stage. Successful models will be tested again in different locations to ensure their quality, and in later stages, residents will begin registering for meters and preparing the necessary infrastructure.

Previously, the foundation used to supply water to the neighborhoods of the city in sectors, with each sector receiving water for one day every eight days, a duration insufficient to meet the needs of the residents, forcing them to purchase water trucks.

Residents had previously demanded a reduction in this duration to alleviate the burden of buying water at a price equivalent to the daily wage of a worker, which amounts to 100 Turkish lira in the best cases.