Over 2,995 water facilities destroyed since 2015 in Yemen

SANAA, Aug. 28 (YPA) – More than 2,995 water facilities, including dams, barriers, pumps, tanks, irrigation channels and water networks, have been destroyed by the Saudi-led coalition forces since 2015.

During a press conference on the effects of the war and the siege on the water and environment sectors since the start of the war on Yemen, the Ministry of Water and Environment in Sanaa confirmed that the coalition had polluted a number of water sources in Hodeida with chemicals and radioactive elements, and destroyed thousands of water sources in various provinces.

In the conference, deputy Water Resources Authority, Abdul Karim Al-Sufyani, explained that the authority had discovered chemical contamination with radioactive and heavy elements in a number of water sources in Hodeida.

Al-Sufyani pointed out that more than 20 million Yemenis do not have access to safe and potable water, according to the statistics of international organizations.

For his part, Undersecretary of the Ministry, Abdulsalam Al-Hakimi, stated that the losses of the water and environment sectors due to the war and the siege exceeded 432 billion riyals.

Al-Hakimi affirmed that the irregular availability of diesel and its high prices led to a decrease in the capacity of water pumping systems, noting that an attempt was made to introduce spare parts to expand the water and sewage networks and a number of out-of-service wells and treatment plants during the truce, but the coalition prevented that.

In turn, Director General of the Local Corporation for Water and Sanitation in the capital, Mohammed al-Shami, confirmed that the water sector did not benefit from the truce at all, noting that the United Nations took advantage of the truce to announce the cessation of most forms of its aid in this sector.

AA