Citizens take to social media to voice frustration over water supply stoppage

AMMAN — Citizens took to social media to express their displeasure with the recent news that pumping from the Disi water conveyance project will be halted from Monday, November 25, until Thursday, November 28, affecting several areas in Amman and Zarqa.

In a statement, the Ministry of Water and Irrigation said on Sunday that the halt in pumping is aimed at enabling programmed maintenance work of the Disi Water Company to ensure continuous pumping year-round, while the Jordan Water Company (Miyahuna) specified in another statement that the Mujib and Zarqa pumping stations in particular need maintenance.

“In order to maintain the continuity of the pumping lines throughout the year, the water shares of some areas in Amman, Zarqa and Rusaifa will be affected by this programmed downtime,” said the ministry statement.

It called on citizens in affected areas to take necessary precautions by storing sufficient quantities of water to meet their needs during the period of suspension.

Facebook user Rawhi Saleh posted that Miyahuna “cuts off the water in the poorer areas of Amman and Zarqa instead of West Amman whenever they want to do maintenance”.

Mahmoud Balasmeh, a citizen of Zarqa, told The Jordan Times that the dissatisfaction on social media “reflects what people think as well. During the summer, the water is not pumped because of ‘deficiency’. In the winter, it is because of ‘maintenance’. When will we actually get our share of water?”

In their statement, Miyahna noted: “The maintenance work was scheduled for winter as that is when the demand is at its minimum. All necessary measures have been taken to ensure that the northern governorates are not affected.”

Miyahuna and the Disi Water Company both confirmed that they will “exert all efforts to complete the maintenance work within the specified time of 96 hours”.

Nuha Omoush, a resident of Zarqa, told The Jordan Times over the phone that the “expected timeframes that are usually announced are often violated, and many downtimes continue for at least a week afterwards”.

“Sometimes in the summer it would be announced that the pumping would be delayed for a day and then go on to be delayed for 14 days,” she added.

On a Facebook group for Ameer Al Hassan neighbourhood, one area that is to be affected next week, citizens talked of having to “frequently buy additional water tanks to supply more water”, as put by Tamer Hassan.

“We might as well store as much water as we can when it is pumped, because we do not know when the next time will be. Winter or summer, the situation is the same,” he added.