Water shortage ‘may become bigger problem than war’
Yemenis pay more than 30% of their income for water, the highest rate in the world
The price of water is rising steeply in Yemen, which may run out of water for its 25 million people, experts say, adding to the misery caused by Arab air strikes and the civil war ravaging one of the world’s poorest and driest countries.
An Arab military coalition has since late March been bombing the Iran-backed Al Houthi militia that has taken over much of the country.
The bombing is aimed at restoring Yemen’s exiled president to power, and the alliance’s virtual blockade of Yemen’s airspace and ports has cut off supplies of food and fuel to the impoverished country.
Most of the gas-powered pumps providing water are now inoperable, and water from those that still work doesn’t come cheap.
“Ordinary Yemenis now pay more than 30 per cent of their income just to get water in their houses, the highest rate in the world,” said Abdul Khaleq Alwan, a senior expert at Yemen’s water and environment ministry.
Prices have more than tripled since March, reaching 10,000 Yemen riyals (Dh170) for a four cubic metre tank of water, Alwan said from Sana’a.
The price of water has risen so steeply because the price of diesel used to pump water from the wells, and that of petrol to run the trucks, has gone through the roof, Alwan said.
ROCKET STRIKE
“The well owners can barely afford to buy diesel on the black market because of the crazy prices, sometimes around $100 [Dh367] for 20 litres of diesel,” while petrol costs around $40 for 20 litres on the black market, he said.
The only alternative for water truck owners is to queue for three to four days to buy fuel more cheaply from petrol stations, he said.
In a country where more than half the population lives on less than $2 a day, some simply can’t afford to buy water at all.
“Poor families… are absolutely unable to purchase clean and safe water at such prices and therefore started to fetch water in cans on their heads,” Alwan said.
In some cities and suburban areas wealthy residents pay water well owners and drivers to deliver water for free to poor areas, where women and children, who are usually responsible for fetching water, can fill their containers.
But as prices keep rising, Yemenis may before long have to accept that their water supply is running out.
William Cosgrove, a water expert and former World Bank water resources specialist for the Middle East, says much of the problem in Yemen is caused by the illegal drilling of wells.
“While the war is going on, the water level in the aquifer is going down, so the [water] problem may end up being bigger than the war.”