RAK residents face potable water shortage

Residents of RAK forced to depend on water tankers; major breakdown in main pipeline cited as reason; supply expected to resume on Friday.

RAS AL KHAIMAH - Residents in different areas of RAK complained of having to spend a lot of money to buy water for domestic use following a major breakdown in their main water supply pipeline in recent days.

The residents of Kharan, Dhait and other areas in the southern region of Ras Al Khaimah said they had to spent a couple of days without piped water in their homes.

Water supply in some of these areas was reduced to half the amount.

Many families said they have been relying on water distribution companies to fill tanks in their houses, but some of the firms have been charging them high prices for the water.

Najeeb Khalid, a Palestinian resident in Kharan said there was no water supply to his home for three days and he had to spend more to buy water from distribution firms. “I have a big family and we need a reasonable amount of water for use at home. I have so far spent Dh250 to buy water from distribution companies since the disruption of water supply to our area,” he added.

Emirati resident, Majid Hussein of Dhait area said that some water distribution companies have been charging Dh150 to fill a 1,000-gallon water tank instead of the Dh120 it cost earlier.

“The disruption in water supply has affected many residents. Many families need large quantities of water during summer. Relying on water being supplied by water tankers means spending more which is a burden on many poor families. There is need for the authorities to rectify the water problem as soon as possible in order to save us from unexpected expenditures,” said Hussein.

For Ibrahim Issa, another resident of Dhait, since the beginning of summer, he and his family have been facing a problem of interruption in the supply of piped water.

He noted that there is need to increase the capacity of water being supplied to the northern and southern areas of Dhait or to install more or bigger pipelines to increase the amount of water supplied to the new homes. Issa said that they have on several occasions complained to the Federal Electricity and Water Authorities (FEWA) about the problem of insufficient water supply to many homes in the area but the authorities have up to now not solved this problem.

Mohammed Hassan, an Emirati who relocated to his new home in southern Dhait early this year said they have been experiencing water shortage over the past few months.

“Many residents in the area complain of inadequate water supply. Sometimes, big families buy water from water distribution firms,” he added.

Mohammed Al Shamsi, Chief of Communications at FEWA offices in Dubai said that water disruption in the southern areas of RAK was due to a breakdown in the main water pipeline.

He, however, confirmed that the authorities have managed to fix the problem and the supply of piped water to homes would resume by this morning.

Al Shamsi noted that FEWA had also put in place water tankers to help supply the affected residents with water until the situation was back to normal.

ismail@khaleejtimes.com

• UAE