Blackouts Compound Water Shortage
One crisis exacerbates another: Yemen Observer:
Water supply for subscribers in the Capital Secretariat of Sana’a has decreased by 30-40 % as a result of a stop of more than 85 water pumps due to electric blackouts. Pumps stop working between 7-10 hours per day. If the situation were to continue, every neighborhood would get water once every 8-9 days, said a source at the Public Corporation for Water and Sanitation.The Corporation is working hard to reduce this problem that represents more than 22 thousand cubic meter of water daily. The issue of water shortage in Sana’a in particular has worsened in the past few years due to several factors, the most important of which is groundwater depletion as a result of incorrect irrigation methods and qat growing.
Official statistics show that only 50 percent of Sana’a’s population, 2 million people, can be supplied with water. Just under 50 percent of people living in other Yemeni governorates can get clean drinking water. However, houses in many areas of Yemen are not originally provided with water supply service. In addition, some studies estimate that the stored water of Sana’a governorate will be exhausted in the next 10 to 15 years.
The World Health Organization (WHO) also highlights the health consequences of water scarcity, such as diarrheal diseases including cholera, typhoid fever and salmonellosis. Lack of potable water is also a common cause of food poisoning, other gastrointestinal viruses and dysentery.
