JEDDAH – After widespread power outages during the first ten days of Ramadan forced residents to break their fasts under candlelight, residents are now going through the last ten days without water as the city is experiencing widespread shortages, Al-Hayat newspaper reported Friday. Long lines have been reported at water distribution points as people queue up to secure water tankers. Fisticuffs broke out at the water distribution point on Kilo 14 in South Jeddah and police were forced to intervene and calm the situation. Khaled Al-Shihri, a Saudi national who said he suffered from kidney problems, said employees at the water distribution point refused to provide him a water tanker. Instead, they insisted that he wait in line like the other residents. “I presented documents proving that I'm suffering from kidney problems but there was no response from the employees. On the contrary, they shouted at me.” Muhammad Al-Ghamdi, who lives in a building that has 16 apartments, said his building's water supply has been cut for the past three weeks. The residents of the building take turns to purchase water tankers. “I was given a ticket at 5 p.m. and it's 11 p.m. now and my turn still hasn't come,” said Al-Ghamdi who added that there was a shortage of staff at the National Water Company (NWC), which is in charge of distributing water tankers to residents. Al-Ghamdi said many Jeddah residents were forced to buy water from wells, which is sometimes brackish and added that the price per tanker has reached SR250 on the black market. Abdullah Al-Assaf, Director General of the National Water Company (NWC), said the demand for water has only increased recently. “Until the beginning of the last ten days of Ramadan there was no increase in demand. The situation was normal, but during the past seven days the demand for water increase tremendously especially in furnished apartments.” Al-Assaf attributed the increase in demand to the large number of pilgrims and visitors. — SG
