ID :
120454
Wed, 05/05/2010 - 21:40
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://oananews.org//node/120454
The shortlink copeid
Water crisis threatens Yemen
By: Mahmoud Assamiee
Yemen is one of the ten countries
in the world in terms of water scarcity and the poorest 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.
Yemen is one of the ten countries
in the world in terms of water scarcity and the poorest 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.