RIYADH, 5 May — Engineers are working round the clock to repair damage to pipelines that pump drinking water to Riyadh from the Eastern Province as the city continued to reel under a severe water shortage.
Work is progressing on a war-footing and the crisis will be over in a couple of days, informed sources told Arab News. Residents had to wait more than 48 hours for their turn at various distribution centers in the city on Thursday.
Several private trucks without permits from the Water Department were also trying to get a place among the endless lines of tankers. A contractor told Arab News that some unlicensed establishments managed to get water from the distribution centers and sold them at unusually high rates.
They reportedly sold a 30,000-liter tanker of water at as high as SR1,000 on Thursday. The rate fixed by the Water Department is SR180.
The acute water shortage in the city followed the recent closure of two pipelines after heavy leakage was discovered at Al-Janadriya a few days ago. The closure resulted in a 30 percent reduction in water supplied to the city from desalination plants on the eastern coast.
The Passport Department has given permission to water-supply contractors to temporarily hire drivers of other companies to operate additional trucks as an emergency measure.
Meanwhile, the traffic authorities have exempted water trucks from earlier restrictions on entering the city during peak hours. Senior Water Department officials were camping at distribution points on Thursday as many residents complained about chaos there.
