JEDDAH: Residents of Bahra and Hadda, east of Jeddah, are expressing fears that sewage water has leaked into desalinated water, similar to the case of the Saudi national Jaza Al-Harbi, who experienced groundwater leaking into his house. Al-Harbi, who was forced to summon authorities to find a rapid solution to prevent his house from collapsing, said he is experiencing a real nightmare that is threatening to cause the collapse of his house. He pointed out that water rises and covers the front area, which forces him to rent a tanker truck to pump out the water. Large quantities of water in the districts of Bahra and Hadda have become breeding grounds for mosquitoes and created swamps on the streets, which makes it difficult to travel from one place to another. The rising water has reached the main road linking Makkah with Jeddah. Nawaf Al-Ma'badi, Sa'eed Al-Zahrani, Salah Al-Ghamdi, Khissaiwi Hilal and Hussein Al-Hilali – residents of the two towns – said they were deeply distressed by the flow of water to the streets, main roads and some houses. They said the flow of water was caused by old underground pipes breaking, which would cause sewage to get mixed with desalinated drinking water. According to sources, groundwater has risen and mixed with sanitary-drainage water on the streets, and a municipality representative has inspected the site. Fahd Al-Ma'badi, Director of the National Water Company branch in Hadda, said its teams are conducting a survey of the situation with serious follow up by Eng. Abdullah Al-Assaf, director of the Works Unit in Jeddah. Al-Ma'badi pointed out that water from the ground and sewage water are flowing to the streets and houses, but workers are installing new pipes.
