Daraa – Mahjoub al-Hashish
On his motorcycle, Khaled Shihab, a resident of Koya town in western Daraa, carries 25 liters of diesel and hands it to a worker at the water well to operate the diesel engine that pumps drinking water to the town.
This amount is sufficient to operate the engine for two hours, as it consumes 13 liters of diesel per hour, with the price of one liter reaching 10,500 Syrian pounds (91 US cents).
The town of Koya relies on a private well located north of the town, which operates on diesel, but the cost of diesel is a financial burden on the residents, most of whom work in agriculture and livestock.
Residents of the town are demanding the provision of a solar energy system for the well, which would provide about ten hours of operation daily, enough to supply the town with drinking water, according to workers at the Koya well.
Overwhelming costs for residents
Khaled Shihab and several residents of his neighborhood share the expenses of running the well.
Shihab and his neighbors need 25 liters to operate the well for only two hours, with each family responsible for securing two liters of diesel. Shihab’s family also practices water conservation, limiting themselves to one refill per week.
Shihab told Enab Baladi that he needs 100,000 Syrian pounds (8.6 US dollars) monthly for drinking water, while he requires 800,000 Syrian pounds (70 US dollars) for water for his livestock, which he purchases from mobile tankers.
Odai Shihab, a resident of the town, told Enab Baladi that securing drinking water has become a family priority. For the past two years, he has been purchasing water himself by collecting the cost of diesel through committees in every neighborhood.
He added that this available solution is cheaper than buying water from mobile tankers, as the price for one cubic meter of water from tankers is 50,000 Syrian pounds, while the cost from the town well is 22,000 Syrian pounds.
He suggested the possibility of equipping the well with solar energy, but most of the town’s residents are poor, and their agricultural crops have been affected by a frost wave that struck the early vegetable season, followed by drought affecting the reservoir feeding it.
Basil al-Shallal, a worker at the well, told Enab Baladi that the engine needs 12 liters of diesel every hour, in addition to regular maintenance and periodic oil changes.
He added that there is difficulty in securing the diesel, noting that there are constant disagreements among neighborhood residents regarding the costs for diesel and maintenance.
Solutions and suggestions
Al-Shallal mentioned that the optimal solution would be to operate the well on solar energy, but this step requires more than 200 million Syrian pounds, an amount the town cannot raise currently.
He added that it would be possible to replace the current pump with a larger capacity pump and a greater number of solar panels, which would require the project to be adopted by international organizations or the current government.
The head of Koya municipality, Amjad Suleiman, told Enab Baladi that the municipality and several elders have requested the Daraa governor to provide a solar energy system for the well supplying the town.
Suleiman added that the drinking water crisis began after the supply from the Ain Dhikr wells decreased, which prompted the elders to launch a fundraising campaign that managed to rehabilitate a well belonging to one of the residents to secure drinking water.
According to the well worker, there are emergency solutions, which include supporting the engine with quantities of diesel provided by the current government, which offered 500 liters of diesel only once in early April, enough to operate the engine for three days.
He added that residents previously asked the ousted Assad regime to connect the well to an electricity line exempt from rationing; however, the distance from the lines exempt from rationing prevented approval of this proposal.
Koya town is located in the far western countryside of Daraa and is one of the villages in the Yarmouk Basin. It has strategic significance as it lies at the triangle between Syria, Jordan, and Israel, being 40 kilometers away from the center of Daraa province.
The population is 9,000, and its area is estimated at 13,000 dunams, according to the mayor.
Daraa: Demands to equip Koya water well with solar energy system Enab Baladi.
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