[caption id="attachment_110078" align="alignleft" width="235"] Huda neighborhood, in the south of Jeddah, suffers from swamps, poor asphalting and lack of enough lighting. — Courtesy photo[/caption]JEDDAH – Several residents of the Huda neighborhood, in the south of Jeddah, have expressed concern over dumping groundwater on to the streets of the neighborhood, which in turn deteriorated the foundations of their homes arguing that the area suffers from lack of services despite constant communication with the municipality to end the crisis. Ali Al-Amri said that groundwater settled in the neighborhood until the houses became as if they were built in the middle of a swamp. He said water was still seeping into some of the buildings after all attempts to the National Water Company (NWC) failed to collect and withdraw the water. He pointed out that the area residents communicated several times with NWC, but that the company apologizes and refuses to withdraw the water due to end of their contract. He said that the city is approaching the rainy season and the neighborhood was still under threat of drowning, citing last season's rain which paralyzed the neighborhood. NWC did not claim responsibility for the situation and reiterated that the municipality should be approached, Al-Madina daily said. Abduallh Al-Shihri said: "The neighborhood is in dire need of water and sewage systems." He pointed to the suffering of people at the request of water tankers where some houses have to wait for a week or two for a tank to arrive. Ahmed Al-Asmari also said that the neighborhood suffers from poor asphalting, lighting and pointing out that driving and walking into the neighborhood has become very difficult. Zaid Al-Kathiri said that seeing tons of accumulated waste has become familiar after the company responsible for cleaning failed to collect trash from the area. "Waste containers may remain for days and even weeks without being collected causing horrible smells and spreading diseases," he added. Yasser Al-Zahrani pointed out that he has been a resident of the area for nearly 38 years and throughout this time it has always lacked vital services such as schools, health centers, police stations, sidewalks, and lighting. Ali Al-Omari said that residents have complained, but people are lost between NWC and the municipality where both are blaming each other. He pointed out that the Municipal Council had examined the neighborhood earlier and promised to find solutions. Jeddah mayor had inspected the neighborhood and made several promises to the residents to fix these problems yet people cannot see any change. The newspaper approached the head of the Municipal Council, Abdul Majeed Al-Batati, several times to question about the role of the council. The official has yet to respond. Corporate Communications Manager at the NWC, Khalid Maqbool, said that groundwater is under the responsibility of the municipality.
