Water crisis ‘to end next week’

The thirst of the Bride of the Red Sea will end by next week.
An official at the National Water Company has told Arab News that the NWC is in constant touch with the Saline Water Conversion Corporation and has already received 970,000 cubic meters of desalinated water.
In the beginning of March, estimated 5,600 water tankers were being deployed daily, while over the past few days, 8,500 tankers on average have been employed every day, the official said.
Disorganization at the water distribution points has led to long waiting periods, extending to eight hours in some cases, locals told Arab News. “An old man died in the queue in front of me,” said Samer Bandar.
“After waiting for many hours, I finally reached the counter only to be told to come back the next day because water tankers were no longer available,” said Ali Al-Ahmadi, adding that shouting and verbal quarrels in the queue have become a commonplace.
Meanwhile, Abdullah bin Ali Al-Assaf, director of the Jeddah City Business Unit at the National Water Company, cited three factors impeding the supply in Jeddah: Maintenance operations at a number of distribution centers, recent raids targeting violators of labor laws and the decision to prevent trucks from entering the city center during peak hours.
The raids have had an effect on truck drivers, he said. “All efforts are being made to overcome this problem, and minimize the damage as much as possible.”
He said the supply had been very good before the maintenance work began. “The sudden stop in the supply from one of the desalination plants led to a big shortage of about 27 percent of the original quantities,” he explained. The ban on trucks in the city during peak hours reduced the number of working hours of trucks from 24 to 14 a day.