The appearance of large volume of ground water in some places in the area has been an old issue, but it has acquired dangerous proportions recently. The situation has worsened with the construction of the reserve dam to the old mud dam, which was constructed to protect the city from the overflow or collapse of the sewage dumpsite known as Musk Lake.
The residents presented their problem to the Municipal Council Chairman Hussein Baaqeel, Council Deputy Chairman Hassan Al-Zahrani and Council member Bassam Akhdar on Sunday in a meeting at council headquarters.
Baaqeel promised the residents that he would do every thing within his capacity to address the problem.
“The council, which is already aware of the problems in Al-Samir and other districts, has already discussed the issue and made visits to various locations to learn the gravity of the situation. We will shortly meet with the Jeddah mayor and discuss with him what could be done,” the council chairman told Arab News.
One of the solutions suggested by Al-Samir residents is to pump the water in the mud dam to the reserve dam instead of the present system of flowing it in open channels.
“The channels cause underground seepage of the sewage water to districts along which they flow, but strong pipes would stop the seepage,” one local resident said.
Baaqeel added that the reserve dam was constructed as an emergency measure to block the bursting of the sewage lake while long-term solutions are expected soon.
