The citizens were in agreement that imposing punishments for wasting water was inevitable and necessary but they called for the punishments to be made public knowledge in the media and also part of law. They said they had to know the types of violations to avoid committing them in the first place.
Sheikh Ali Al-Hakami, a resident of the city and member of the Supreme Council of Scholars, asked supervisors at the NWC to verify the nature of the wastage before penalizing anyone.
“The company’s teams should make sure the spilt liquid is water or not, ascertain the reasons why it is in this particular place and decide if the leakage is deliberate or accidental before they register any violation against any citizen,” he said.
Sheikh Al-Hakami also said the violators should only be warned for first offenses and then fined for subsequent violations.
Lawyer Tariq Hamood Al-Ibrahim said the current system of monitoring violations and imposing fines is illegal and had to be reviewed.
“Any system of violations should be legalized and made clear to citizens through the local media so that they are able to find out the nature of the violation they have committed and the fine they have to pay,” he said.
A number of residents in east Jeddah have objected to the system altogether. They called for equality with other districts, which they say are never asked to pay fines for violations.
“We are being subjected to repeated water cuts. We had to stand for long hours at the water stations to be able to buy a water tanker. The NWC should recognize this and deal with us on an equal footing with residents of other districts,” said Ahmed Al-Mitairi, an east Jeddah resident.
He said he would use one gallon of water every week to clean the entrance of his house. “Every time I do this, I would receive a violation ticket for wasting water,” he said. “Is it fair to pay a fine of SR200 every time I wash the entrance of my house or wash my car?” he asked.
Al-Mitairi was certain that residents in other Jeddah districts or people who live in villas would never be penalized for water wastage.
His neighbor Awad Al-Johani agreed with him and says the NWC is not being fair. “We suffer water cuts which continue sometimes for more than 10 days and we have to wait at water stations to buy water tankers. The company would not bother to recognize our suffering or compensate us for the repeated water cuts,” he said.
Tahir Fadqa, another east Jeddah resident, said he was asked to pay accumulated fines worth SR3,000 left over by a woman who was renting his villa. “The tenant left the villa without informing me. There were fines she had accumulated because of water wastage. She refused to pay,” he said.
The landlord said it was the duty of the company to inform the woman of the fines against her.
Falih Al-Qahtani asked the company to send text messages to the citizens about the violations and fines against them. “It is not just right to leave a small piece of paper at the door or on the water meter informing residents about their violations,” he said.
He asked the company to hand over the violations slips by hand and ask offenders to sign an official acknowledgement.
Abdullah Humaid said when they approach the company to appeal the violations they will not be heeded by any of the staff. “The staff will give you all sorts of justifications and you will finally have to pay and leave,” he said.
Ali Haidar, a retired army brigadier, said he arrived at the center at 12 noon but had to wait for more than 40 minutes under the scorching heat while the staff prayed Dhuhr. “Why did they not leave the doors of the office open so we could pray with them, especially as there was no nearby mosque?” he asked.
The residents of the Al-Musaid and Abruq Al-Righama districts have assigned former judge at the general court Sheikh Saeed bin Awad Al-Asmari, who is now a lawyer, to represent them in negotiations with the NWC to reach an understanding on a mechanism to monitor violations. He said he contacted the company and was waiting for a response.
