Syrian Arab News Agency S A N A
Hasaka, SANA- The Turkish occupation forces and its terrorist mercenaries continue to exert the most inhuman pressures on civilians in Hasaka province by controlling the pumping of water from the Alouk station in the countryside of the occupied Ras al-Ayn, in addition to preventing the workers at the General Establishment of Drinking Water from entering the station to operate it and depriving the locals of water.
A number of workers at the Establishment told SANA reporter that the Turkish occupation forces have prevented them from reaching Alouk water station to carry out maintenance work at the station and to operate it and that pumping operations are carried out at the minimum level, which leads to weak water pumping in the city of Hasaka and its population centers.
Alouk water pumping station has been repeatedly damaged in the attacks launched by Turkish occupation forces and their mercenaries as they have targeted the electrical transmission lines feeding the station more than three times.
The station has also stopped pumping water more than 10 times since the beginning of the Turkish aggression on Syrian territories last October, in addition to targeting water transmission lines in the area of Tal Tamir.
A number of locals considered these aggressive practices are a war crime and that international organizations should intervene to protect and neutralize Alouk water station as it is the main source of drinking water, and not to allow the Turkish occupation to continue blackmailing civilians in this inhuman manner, especially that any defect in the pumping station threatens the life of about a million people from the city of Hasaka and its areas.
The locals indicated that the rationing program approved by the Water Establishment has become unstable due to the terrorist practices of the Turkish occupation’s mercenaries as the water doesn’t reach the neighborhoods of the city for more than eight days per month, and the water pumping is weak and doesn’t meet the daily needs of the local population in light of the high daily consumption due to the high temperatures.
For his part, General Director of Hasaka Water Department, Eng. Mahmoud al-Okleh said that the reality of pumping drinking water is unstable because the Turkish occupation and its mercenaries are the ones who control pumping operations in the Alouk water station.
Al-Okleh added “The role of our workshops is limited to maintenance only … And currently operating the station at the minimum level, as the establishment only controls the received water quantities and the poor pumping can be dealt with only if our workers can supervise the pumping and operate as many wells as possible within the project.”
Al-Okleh affirmed that relentless efforts have been exerted along with all the bodies concerned in the region to enable the Establishment’s workers to play their role in supervising the maintenance and pumping operations because Alouk water station is the main source on which a million people depend to secure drinking water and any defect in its work means a humanitarian catastrophe.
Ruaa al-Jazaeri
