After weeks of complaints from residents of Al-Tawfeeq District in the east of Jeddah, the mayoralty on Tuesday finally pressed 20 tankers into service to remove leaked sewage water which has created a general health hazard. Residents of the district, who have suffered from the bad odor emanating from the sewage, breathed a sigh of relief on seeing the mayoralty trucks streaming into the area. However, a resident told Saudi Gazette that having the tankers remove the sewage water is no permanent solution. “After a few days, sewage water will again start seeping into the streets making our lives miserable,” he said. “This has been going on for a long time,” he added. The sewage, which comes from leaking drainage pipes connected to homes in the district, mixes with water coming from broken underground pipes used to deliver water to the district. The resultant noxious mixture spreads throughout the area. Tanker drivers told Saudi Gazette that they received orders from Jeddah mayoralty early Tuesday morning to remove the leaked sewage water from the area. As of Wednesday afternoon the tankers were still busy removing the foul-smelling liquid. One tanker driver told Saudi Gazette that he and the other drivers made about four trips each on Tuesday and expected to make the same number on Wednesday. He said that he was not sure how long it would take to remove all the sewage water. Residents here have also been suffering from several small swamps of stagnant water scattered throughout the district, a sad reminder of the floods that battered the city two months ago. Locals here have given a name to a small swamp, located in the east of the district, calling it “Tuna Lake.” They have also given names to other swamps in the area so as to be able to differentiate between them, as these swamps appear to have become permanent features of the district. Al-Tawfeeq District is about 3 to 4 km from Misk Lake, which residents feel poses a danger to their district as well as to nearby Al-Samer and Al
