(MENAFN- Kuwait News Agency (KUNA)) By: Sami Numaan
ADEN, July 23 -- (KUNA) - War is no longer the only thing driving residents of the Yemeni city of Taiz to flee. Thirst has become a dangerous enemy, forcing dozens of families to leave the city every day.
The city has been partially besieged for a decade, as water sources have dried up and prices have risen to levels never known to Yemenis, threatening their security, stability, and right to survive.
Taiz has been experiencing a severe water crisis for over five months, exacerbating the suffering of hundreds of thousands of residents and fueling fears of an impending humanitarian disaster in the city.
The crisis has led to an unprecedented rise in the price of 6,000-liter portable water tanks, jumping from 24,000 Yemeni riyals (USD 99.56) to more than YER 100,000 (USD 414.85) in recent weeks.
This has made obtaining water for domestic use an unattainable commodity for many low-income families, given the scarcity of water resources in the city, which previously relied for most of its water supply on fields located in the suburbs under Houthi militia control.
The crisis has not stopped with the water tankers, but has extended to the desalinated drinking water, popularly known in the city as "Kawthar Water."
Desalination plants are suffering from a shortage of supplies and a high demand, with the city's neighborhoods witnessing long queues at grocery stores and filling stations, all searching for a 20-liter bottle of water.
In remarks to KUNA, Director of the Water Corporation in Taiz, Wathiq Al-Aghbari, said that the water crisis in the city is "an old problem that has worsened this year in an unprecedented manner due to the interruption of the main water sources that supplied the city before 2015."
Taiz had previously relied on major water fields with a production capacity of 20,000 cubic meters per day, but these fields had been completely cut off due to the war, as most of those fields were located in areas under the control of the Houthi militia, Al-Aghbari added.
He also noted that the Water Authority is currently working to resolve the drinking water crisis, or "Kawthar Water," by meeting a large portion of the desalination plants' needs through wells drilled by the State of Kuwait through the Kuwait Relief Society three years ago. However, he stressed that the situation "remains extremely fragile" in light of the high water demand.
Further, Al-Aghbari said the Water Corporation has developed urgent emergency solutions, including technical studies to drill 10 new wells to a total depth of 4,000 meters at an estimated cost of between USD 750,000 and USD 800,000. He believes that "the only and most immediate solution currently to alleviate the crisis lies in expanding well drilling and maintaining old networks."
Large parts of the city of Taiz are under a stifling siege by the Houthi militia, which has cut off its parts and isolated it from its resources for nearly 10 years. Meanwhile, its residents are living in difficult humanitarian conditions, lacking basic services amid the ongoing war and the lack of sustainable solutions.
Taiz is writing a new chapter in Yemen's tragedy: Thirst haunts the living, displacement squanders what little stability remains, and hearts await a glimmer of hope, along with a drop of water, to save them from destruction. (end)
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