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120284
Wed, 05/05/2010 - 02:38
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WATER CRISIS THREATENS YEMEN
WATER CRISIS THREATENS YEMEN
By: Mahmoud Assamiee
SANA’A, May 04 (Saba)- Yemen is one of the poorest ten countries in the world in terms of water scarcity and the poorest one in the Middle East region.
With the population's explosion and expansion of growing qat tree, the narcotic plant which its young leafs are chewed, water crisis has become a real challenge threatening almost all parts of the country.
Yemeni people, for decades, have used to irrigate their plants by traditional way, a matter that is leading to the fast consumption of ground water. Qat expansion and mismanagement of water are the main reasons behind water exhaustion.
In the recent few years, people have started suffering water scarcity in several governorates which are threatened also by drought. Several areas in governorates of Lahj, Amran, Taiz, Beidha'a and Hajjah are witnessing the sharpest water crisis which has severely affected their life and even forced some leave their houses after drought has started in their areas.
But when one goes back with his mind to the roots of the problem in these governorates, he finds that these areas are also famous of growing qat trees and at the same time are still expanding the cultivation of the plant which according to experts consumes 60 percent of Yemen's water.
Sana'a
Although capital Sana'a is not ranked among the governorates which are witnessing the sharpest scarcity of water, the huge population nearing to the 3 million people and the fastest construction's expansion threaten the city with eminent crisis of water supply.
Almost all people in Sana'a do not get enough supply of public water project, which arrives houses only one day every ten days. Most of them are filling the gap of their daily needs by water trucks which are distributed across the city to supply people with water from wells dug randomly every where in the city and Sana'a basin. Poor families force their children to bring water from mosques and nearby wells.
Sana'a basin is threatened by random digging for wells for irrigating qat trees. According to Dr. Gerhard Lichtenthaeler, the Manager of Integrated Water Resources Management in GTZ Yemen, there are 13,500 wells in Sana'a basin. Most of these wells are private drilled by people for irrigation which consumes approximately 80-90 percent of water; of course qat cultivation takes the lion's share.
Water and Sanitation Local Authority has 125 wells in Sana'a basin, one third of them are deepened to 1000 meter to supply people of water. Even though, some people in new constructed areas around the city's center do not get access to the public water project and depend on water trucks for supplying with water.
Although owners of water trucks and wells make good business of selling water to the people around the city, they fear that this business will be vanished in the near future because of water scarcity and difficult conditions of the people.
Mohammad Saleh, owner of water truck, says he used to sell ten trucks in the past but now with deterioration of people condition, water scarcity and increasing prices of water by well owners, he only sells three trucks a day.
Saleh fears of deterioration of his business he makes from selling water trucks to people. He sells one truck for YR 1500, with 200 increase of the price a year ago when the truck was sold for YR 1300. Well owners are currently deepening their wells in Sana'a basin but do not get water.
"I fear my business is deteriorated. I only depend on this business to feed my children and how can I feed them if my work stopped," said Saleh.
Qat farmers outside Sana'a, in Hamdan where famous fields of qat are exists, say that the plant was their choice to support their families. They say that they used to grow peach in the past but found that beach consumes more water than qat and at the same time does not generate big funds like qat.
With the approaching water crisis in Sana'a, the study made by Dutch water experts in 1997 can be unavoidable. The study suggested that the government of Yemen has to rethink of making use of revenues generated by oil to provide Sana'a with desalinated water from the Red Sea.
While this kind of solution is dearly costing and with the sharp depletion of Yemen's oil, which represents almost 80 percent of the public budget, the government is facing a dare problem to provide the people with water.
Minister of Water and Environment Abdul-Rahman al-Iyani said Sana'a basin is in a very critical stage now as people now digging deeper and deeper to get water. He said in the past, people used to dig 100 meters to get water but now they dig deeper to 1000 meters and some times do not get water.
Minister al-Iryani referred the problem of water depletion in Sana'a for several reasons; depletion of water resources as 40 percent of these resources have been depleted, fast population growth in the capital as many people from all parts of the country come to Sana'a for better work, mismanagement and expansion of qat cultivation which consumes the largest part of ground water.
He talked about strange solutions such decentralization to encourage people stay in their governorates and countryside and stopping qat cultivation. He encourages importing qat from African countries to those who have become addicted to this plant.
Al-Iryani is optimistic that water in Sana'a basing will not dry out soon." It is difficult to set a time of depletion of water in Sana'a basin. In the past they said the water would run out in 1995 and then said in 2005 but we have not seen this." But he argued on strong action to avoid this to happen and not to wait until it happens.
He said although desalination is the effective choice to solve the problem, people can not afford pay for its as the price of the cubic meter was put as $ seven. He argued on stopping qat cultivation to preserve water and talked about solutions such as harvesting rain water and recycling water. He also argued the government and political leadership to act strongly to solve the problem of demographic distribution.
"We have to act now to solve the issue, not to wait for drought to happen,"said al-
Eryani.
Amran
Amran governorate located north of the capital Sana'a. People in rural areas are suffering more than the people in the city due to the sharp water crisis and lack of pubic services. In Arman countryside, people do not get enough water to cover their daily needs. Some of them even respond to nature's call in the open sky just to save water for another use.
In Hijrat Al-Muntaser village, Bani Yazeed District, nearly 700 people depend only on small cistern in the bottom of the mountainous village. Around the cistern, there are allot of canisters with so many children and women waiting for their turns.
With the water scarcity in the will, people organized themselves on supplying with water. Every family composing of three people gets only two water canisters, 20 liters for each, every second day, which means a whole family lives on 20 liters a day.
After eruption of clashes on water, people agreed on distributing water fairly between them and signed a document (they name it markum) not to violate the agreement and a fine estimated at YR 5000 to be paid by a violator. People are now committed to the agreement they signed and appointed a guard to the cistern responsible to distribute water equally between the families. The cistern guard Ali al-Muntasiri has a list of the names of all beneficiaries and distributing water between them according to turns.
The nearby villages are luckier. Government built a small dam for locals to be used only for drinking and home used. But clashes occurred between locals on irrigating qat trees with the water of the dam. Then leaders of the villages gathered under directions of the deputy governor who is also from the area and reached an agreement that the water of dam is used only for drinking and home used.
Currently qat farmers irrigate qat by water trucks, which the prices of one truck have reached YR 10, 000. Understanding the problem of water scarcity with some wells has been depleted, some farmers abandoned qat cultivation.
Because of the danger of Amran basin's depletion, a committee has been formed in 2008 called the Committee for Protecting Amran Basin (CPAB). The committee is headed by Amran governor. The committee is in charge of educating people on managing water use and protecting the basin against any random well digging.
According to CPAB's Coordinator Bashir al-Nuseiri, random well diggings (nearly 3000 wells in Amran Basin most of them have been illegally dug) and transporting water to remote areas for irrigating qat are main reasons of water problem in Amran.
He also talked about the sacristy of water resources in the governorate. "Low level of rainfall in Amran, maximum of 250 millimeters, which is very small comparing to rainfall level in Ebb 1000 millimeter is another reason of water scarcity in the governorate," said al-Nuseiri.
Water experts worn against depletion of Amran basin's water and against quick consumption of ground water.
"Amran basin is in a very critical condition," said Ashraf al-Iryani, water expert in GTZ. "Some areas have been depleted of water in Amran and the reason is transporting water from an area to another."
He said that German experts have already warned against fast consumption of Amran basin's water.
He argued people to stop random well digging and abandoning qat cultivation to save what has been left of the water in Amran basin, saying that qat consumes 60 percent of water and people need only five percent of water for home used and the rest usage is for irrigating other crops.
endesk@sabanews.net
assamieemahmoud@yahoo.com
By: Mahmoud Assamiee
SANA’A, May 04 (Saba)- Yemen is one of the poorest ten countries in the world in terms of water scarcity and the poorest one in the Middle East region.
With the population's explosion and expansion of growing qat tree, the narcotic plant which its young leafs are chewed, water crisis has become a real challenge threatening almost all parts of the country.
Yemeni people, for decades, have used to irrigate their plants by traditional way, a matter that is leading to the fast consumption of ground water. Qat expansion and mismanagement of water are the main reasons behind water exhaustion.
In the recent few years, people have started suffering water scarcity in several governorates which are threatened also by drought. Several areas in governorates of Lahj, Amran, Taiz, Beidha'a and Hajjah are witnessing the sharpest water crisis which has severely affected their life and even forced some leave their houses after drought has started in their areas.
But when one goes back with his mind to the roots of the problem in these governorates, he finds that these areas are also famous of growing qat trees and at the same time are still expanding the cultivation of the plant which according to experts consumes 60 percent of Yemen's water.
Sana'a
Although capital Sana'a is not ranked among the governorates which are witnessing the sharpest scarcity of water, the huge population nearing to the 3 million people and the fastest construction's expansion threaten the city with eminent crisis of water supply.
Almost all people in Sana'a do not get enough supply of public water project, which arrives houses only one day every ten days. Most of them are filling the gap of their daily needs by water trucks which are distributed across the city to supply people with water from wells dug randomly every where in the city and Sana'a basin. Poor families force their children to bring water from mosques and nearby wells.
Sana'a basin is threatened by random digging for wells for irrigating qat trees. According to Dr. Gerhard Lichtenthaeler, the Manager of Integrated Water Resources Management in GTZ Yemen, there are 13,500 wells in Sana'a basin. Most of these wells are private drilled by people for irrigation which consumes approximately 80-90 percent of water; of course qat cultivation takes the lion's share.
Water and Sanitation Local Authority has 125 wells in Sana'a basin, one third of them are deepened to 1000 meter to supply people of water. Even though, some people in new constructed areas around the city's center do not get access to the public water project and depend on water trucks for supplying with water.
Although owners of water trucks and wells make good business of selling water to the people around the city, they fear that this business will be vanished in the near future because of water scarcity and difficult conditions of the people.
Mohammad Saleh, owner of water truck, says he used to sell ten trucks in the past but now with deterioration of people condition, water scarcity and increasing prices of water by well owners, he only sells three trucks a day.
Saleh fears of deterioration of his business he makes from selling water trucks to people. He sells one truck for YR 1500, with 200 increase of the price a year ago when the truck was sold for YR 1300. Well owners are currently deepening their wells in Sana'a basin but do not get water.
"I fear my business is deteriorated. I only depend on this business to feed my children and how can I feed them if my work stopped," said Saleh.
Qat farmers outside Sana'a, in Hamdan where famous fields of qat are exists, say that the plant was their choice to support their families. They say that they used to grow peach in the past but found that beach consumes more water than qat and at the same time does not generate big funds like qat.
With the approaching water crisis in Sana'a, the study made by Dutch water experts in 1997 can be unavoidable. The study suggested that the government of Yemen has to rethink of making use of revenues generated by oil to provide Sana'a with desalinated water from the Red Sea.
While this kind of solution is dearly costing and with the sharp depletion of Yemen's oil, which represents almost 80 percent of the public budget, the government is facing a dare problem to provide the people with water.
Minister of Water and Environment Abdul-Rahman al-Iyani said Sana'a basin is in a very critical stage now as people now digging deeper and deeper to get water. He said in the past, people used to dig 100 meters to get water but now they dig deeper to 1000 meters and some times do not get water.
Minister al-Iryani referred the problem of water depletion in Sana'a for several reasons; depletion of water resources as 40 percent of these resources have been depleted, fast population growth in the capital as many people from all parts of the country come to Sana'a for better work, mismanagement and expansion of qat cultivation which consumes the largest part of ground water.
He talked about strange solutions such decentralization to encourage people stay in their governorates and countryside and stopping qat cultivation. He encourages importing qat from African countries to those who have become addicted to this plant.
Al-Iryani is optimistic that water in Sana'a basing will not dry out soon." It is difficult to set a time of depletion of water in Sana'a basin. In the past they said the water would run out in 1995 and then said in 2005 but we have not seen this." But he argued on strong action to avoid this to happen and not to wait until it happens.
He said although desalination is the effective choice to solve the problem, people can not afford pay for its as the price of the cubic meter was put as $ seven. He argued on stopping qat cultivation to preserve water and talked about solutions such as harvesting rain water and recycling water. He also argued the government and political leadership to act strongly to solve the problem of demographic distribution.
"We have to act now to solve the issue, not to wait for drought to happen,"said al-
Eryani.
Amran
Amran governorate located north of the capital Sana'a. People in rural areas are suffering more than the people in the city due to the sharp water crisis and lack of pubic services. In Arman countryside, people do not get enough water to cover their daily needs. Some of them even respond to nature's call in the open sky just to save water for another use.
In Hijrat Al-Muntaser village, Bani Yazeed District, nearly 700 people depend only on small cistern in the bottom of the mountainous village. Around the cistern, there are allot of canisters with so many children and women waiting for their turns.
With the water scarcity in the will, people organized themselves on supplying with water. Every family composing of three people gets only two water canisters, 20 liters for each, every second day, which means a whole family lives on 20 liters a day.
After eruption of clashes on water, people agreed on distributing water fairly between them and signed a document (they name it markum) not to violate the agreement and a fine estimated at YR 5000 to be paid by a violator. People are now committed to the agreement they signed and appointed a guard to the cistern responsible to distribute water equally between the families. The cistern guard Ali al-Muntasiri has a list of the names of all beneficiaries and distributing water between them according to turns.
The nearby villages are luckier. Government built a small dam for locals to be used only for drinking and home used. But clashes occurred between locals on irrigating qat trees with the water of the dam. Then leaders of the villages gathered under directions of the deputy governor who is also from the area and reached an agreement that the water of dam is used only for drinking and home used.
Currently qat farmers irrigate qat by water trucks, which the prices of one truck have reached YR 10, 000. Understanding the problem of water scarcity with some wells has been depleted, some farmers abandoned qat cultivation.
Because of the danger of Amran basin's depletion, a committee has been formed in 2008 called the Committee for Protecting Amran Basin (CPAB). The committee is headed by Amran governor. The committee is in charge of educating people on managing water use and protecting the basin against any random well digging.
According to CPAB's Coordinator Bashir al-Nuseiri, random well diggings (nearly 3000 wells in Amran Basin most of them have been illegally dug) and transporting water to remote areas for irrigating qat are main reasons of water problem in Amran.
He also talked about the sacristy of water resources in the governorate. "Low level of rainfall in Amran, maximum of 250 millimeters, which is very small comparing to rainfall level in Ebb 1000 millimeter is another reason of water scarcity in the governorate," said al-Nuseiri.
Water experts worn against depletion of Amran basin's water and against quick consumption of ground water.
"Amran basin is in a very critical condition," said Ashraf al-Iryani, water expert in GTZ. "Some areas have been depleted of water in Amran and the reason is transporting water from an area to another."
He said that German experts have already warned against fast consumption of Amran basin's water.
He argued people to stop random well digging and abandoning qat cultivation to save what has been left of the water in Amran basin, saying that qat consumes 60 percent of water and people need only five percent of water for home used and the rest usage is for irrigating other crops.
endesk@sabanews.net
assamieemahmoud@yahoo.com
