The National Water Company (NWC) moved its technical crews into action on Saturday to contain a potentially disastrous leakage of large quantities of asphalt and diesel into the water supply of homes in the districts east of the Haramain highway up to Al-Safa District. Sources said that the company was responding to reports from a number of citizens that their water tanks had been contaminated with materials including asphalt and diesel. This had resulted in a thick layer of the substances forming in the tanks and also entering through pipelines into houses, blocking the water taps. A source from the NWC said that the company had discovered that a quantity of petroleum had leaked into the pipes feeding the districts east of the highway. This was due to the rupturing of one of the pipes which was beneath a tank containing quantities of diesel used by a gas station. This led to the leakage of the petroleum into the homes of residents. “Work is under way to fix the problem,” the source said. Abdullah Bawazir, Fahd Al-Maghrabi and Al-Sayyid Sa'eed, residents of the area east of the highway, urged the NWC to solve the problem. They also demanded that the authorities compensate them for the financial and psychological damage they suffered from what they described as an “environmental catastrophe”. They said they were forced to leave their homes to live elsewhere because of the polluted water in their homes. They claimed the NWC has not responded to their demands since the problem started about a week ago. Bassam Akhdhar, an elected member of the Municipal Council for eastern Jeddah, appealed to NWC officials to intervene quickly before the situation worsens. Akhdhar expressed regret about the situation. “It is necessary to check the water connections and find the main reason for the pollution.” He said that there must be an “urgent solution” so that citizens receive clean water. Akhdhar said that if these substances have appeared as a result of the recent intensive pumping of water by the NWC in Al-Samer District and the area east of the highway, then the company should in future give residents sufficient warning of such work so that they can take the necessary precautions. He said this happens all over the world and that residents have continually been calling for “transparency” about such issues. He said the problem will be raised at the Municipal Council's upcoming meeting so that it can be determined who is responsible for the suffering of residents.
