TAIF, 21 October 2003 — The water shortage here has got worse, and it is no longer only ordinary citizens who are affected.
According to a report in Al-Madinah newspaper, hospitals too are struggling to cope with the shortage. The paper said the Ministry of Water and Electricity, for unknown reasons and without notifying the public, changed the water supply schedule from once every two days to once in three weeks.
“The local branch of the ministry cut off the water three weeks ago,” Ahmad Al-Qurashi told the paper. “Surely they should have notified us of the new system so that we could have made some preparations. We know that Dr. Ghazi Al-Gosaibi, the minister of water and electricity, would not approve of such disorganization. We have this problem nearly every year, and I hope he will be able to solve it,” he added.
Abdullah Naji, too, was angry with the ministry. “They don’t tell us anything in advance, and it is because of them that we have to stand in the sun waiting for a water tanker. And then of course tanker drivers are taking advantage of the situation and increasing their prices.”
Others go a step further. “There is fraud going on here,” Abdul Rahman Al-Zahrani said. “Some tanker drivers fill their tanks with water that is unsafe for drinking. I was the victim of one such driver and had to spend a lot of money getting my underground water tank cleaned.”
But Al-Zahrani also reserved his strongest condemnation for the ministry. “It seems that the Taif branch of the ministry cares nothing about citizens; if it did, they would have notified us before cutting us off.”
