Ajwad District in the east of the city fear an outbreak of water-borne deadly diseases as the issue of groundwater leaking into their houses has gone unattended even after several complaints were lodged with the authorities. The leaked water has now turned into stagnant pools in several parts of the district providing a fertile breeding ground for mosquitoes. The leakage problem existed even before devastating floods struck the city last November, residents allege. The problem has now become so exacerbated that Al-Ajwad has become completely isolated with people from other areas refusing to enter the district. Hasan Al-Zahrani, a resident of the district, said nobody from the mayoralty has worked on solving the problem of the pools of stagnant water. “The municipality made a mockery of our problem by merely sending a small tanker to pump the water out. Obviously the small tanker was completely insufficient,” he said. Abu Fahd, the owner of many buildings in the locality, said several of his tenants left his buildings because of the crisis. “They found it tough to get to their flats because of the stagnant water surrounding their buildings.” Saad Al-Dosari, a resident, called on the authorities to resolve the issue forthwith. “The foundations of several buildings have started to show signs of cracks as a result of water leaking into them for a long period of time,” he said.
