The child Saleh, 12 years old, from the village of Al-Kam in (Hajar district) Hadramout governorate, says: “As far as I know, the residents of this area have been suffering from the water problem since I was a small child. We have been like this for a long time, as my father told me. Every evening, I go with my mother and my sister to get water, but my role is limited to carrying water to our house on the back of this donkey.”

Yemen is witnessing a unceasing exacerbation of the water crisis and the suffering of citizens in order to obtain safe drinking water is endless, while the rural areas residents, in particular, are forced to travel long distances in search of water.

The Hajar district (which is one of the districts of Hadramout governorate, located to the southwest of it) witnesses escalating water crises, as is the case with almost all rural areas of Yemen, especially those far from urban centers, which are now suffering from deprivation and neglect.

In the villages of Hajar, such as (Al-Kam and Ba Ashen) and other neighboring rural areas, many children go on arduous journeys every day at sunrise and sunset to fetch liters of polluted water of red or bright green color, carrying with them a large number of plastic containers of different colors and shapes, through which they transport water.

It is known locally as a Dabbeh (gallon of water), and its sizes vary relatively from 10 to 20 liters, while everyone stands in a tragic scene surrounded by their donkeys and animals by which water is carried to their homes, and they have no choice but to supply this undrinkable water.

On the other hand, local people are complaining of the spread of various health problems and widespread of diseases as a result of drinking and using this polluted water, including but not limited to; acute watery diarrhea of all kinds, and skin and allergic diseases, especially among children.

Many citizens in such local areas, which lack the most basic public services, resort to drinking from the bottom of the valley, swamps, or open running irrigation water channels designated for agricultural purposes, and are known locally as (Saqiya) water spring.

Donkeys are the only means the residents use to transport water to their homes from distances that sometimes reach three kilometers or more, in addition to the suffering of many of them in the absence of their own tanks to store this water. Therefore, they are forced to go several times in one day, - especially in the summer -؛ To supply water, and meet their daily need of it, despite the fact that it is not suitable for drinking

Irregular Water network crisis

The girl Sawsan (14 years old, from the village of Ba Ashen) says in this regard to "Khuyut": "I go once in the early morning to fetch water, so that I have time to go to school, and then I go twice in the evening with my mother."

This girl, like other children and women of these remote local areas, according to her statement, from the nearest stream to their place of residence, while this water that is brought is used for drinking, washing kitchen utensils, but not for bathing which takes place either in the valley or in the stream.

Sawsan continued saying that: “My family thought more than once that I have to drop out of school so that I could secure enough water for us and help my mother in this tiring task.”

For his part, Ali Salem, 37 years old, local citizen from the Al-ghoul area, describes the importance of water and the extent of the crisis they face in his interview with "Khuyut": "We are keen to save water and preserve it as we preserve our precious eyes."

Pumping water through the public water network represents a great joy for all residents of these areas. Unfortunately, this joy soon vanishes with the water being cut off after two or three hours of its arrival, and it does not come again until five days or more have passed.

The productivity of the well that feeds the region’s water network with water has declined in light of the exposure of the transmission water pipes to the washing away due to torrents, in addition to a number of other reasons, including the high prices of fuel needed to operate the water network, and administrative, technical and even engineering reasons related to the operation and running of the project, along with a number of many other obstacles.

And due to the interruption of water pumping through the water project network, the population relies on buying water tanks loaded on trucks, as the price of a 1,500-liter water tank reaches about (12,000) Yemeni riyals; which is approximately equivalent to (10) US dollars.

However, water consumption by families varies, according to the rate at which they use it and according to the size and number of family members. Consequently, buying water through private water tanks is not affordable by everyone, so only wealthy people can provide such water for their families, especially if we take into account what is confirmed by reports that more than two-thirds of Yemenis who live in extreme poverty so that they cannot afford buying expensive water, which certainly reflected on all aspects of their lives.

The Director General of the General Authority for Rural Water Projects in the coast of Hadramout, Zaher bin Khawar Al Kathiri, pointed out in a statement to "Khuyut" about the most important priority and urgent interventions that the authority undertakes to confront this problem by saying: "the key intervention the authority is working on is the drilling of an additional well with high productivity away from the torrents, and the provision of a solar pumping system for the well to be functional".

In order to fill the main reservoir of the water network, many people believe that the urgent solution lies in the establishment of an additional water network to connect the main reservoir of the project to one of the regions, and to separate some other lines from the current network, and this will contribute to solve the problem of lack of water supplies. Moreover, the relevant authorities shall explore the viability of drilling additional artesian wells or more in different nearby locations close to the Al-Ghoul area itself and the center of the district.

The geographical distance between the villages and the costs incurred by that are the most important challenges for the insufficiency of the current water project, in addition to the dispersion of the population and the randomness of the work of the social committees, the poor level of awareness among the population as well as the absence of any effective role of the state, represented by its public service institutions in such rural areas.

Women hard and unfair suffering 

In recent years, women in Yemen have shouldered many heavy burdens and responsibilities besides their housewife duties as they work side by side with men in agriculture, shepherding sheep, and other tasks and businesses.

Thus, women are suffering on daily basis, so that after completing their regular duty at home, and before heading to the fields, they have to go long distances to fetch water for the house, carrying plastic containers on her head and in both hands, in light of the need of many families for more than 200 liters of water per day.

This heavy burden made many of them exhausted physically and psychologically, and they suffer from complications and multiple diseases, whether in the head, spine, back, and shoulder, as an inevitable result of carrying such weights and the burdens they bear on a daily and permanent basis.

  In this regard, Mr. Wejdan Al-Shathely, 38 years old, a community activist from the district, described this scene to Khuyut, saying: “In reality, women suffer from harsh and complex daily burdens; in fact, the task of fetching water is supposed to be the responsibility of the males, not the women, we are now in the year 2023, and unfortunately, woman is still the one who must secure water and carry it instead of the man, and walk loaded with gallons of water for long distances that may reach four kilometers in some areas.

Many homes in such local and rural areas do not have toilets, amid a lack of awareness about the impacts of this matter on the public health, as it is customary in such situation for males to relieve themselves in the open areas, while females relieve themselves on farms, among trees, or in traditional toilets.

Further, Al-Shathely considers that this is an enormous psychological and physical pressure that women experience in such areas, and this makes them stuck in larger social problems, in a society in which the prevailing mentality still forces women to participate with men in arduous tasks that are originally assigned to men, such as working in farming and other daily duties, in addition to securing water for homes.

Shortage of supplies and health damage

In the context, local people are complaining of the spread of various health problems and widespread of diseases as a result of drinking and using this polluted water, including but not limited to; acute watery diarrhea of all kinds, and skin and allergic diseases, especially among children.

Therefore, the only public hospital in the district, and the government health centers and facilities scattered in the villages, receive many infected cases due to water pollution on a daily basis. Undoubtedly, the difficulty of obtaining safe drinking water and drinking polluted water is one of the most important causes of malnutrition.

Dr. Badr Mohammad, 34 years old, (one of the doctors who worked in the Directorate Governmental Hospital for four consecutive years), talks about the damage and effects of this polluted water on the population, and the diseases resulting from it through the increasing sick cases that visit the hospital on a daily basis caused by polluted water, as per his statement to Khuyut.

He added that these pathological conditions are endemic or seasonal diseases, including acute as well as chronic diseases, pointing to the extra health complications that may occur over time in terms of malnutrition and cirrhosis of the liver, in addition to problems related to the high rate of minerals and salts, which in turn can cause kidney stones and diarrhea and other diseases.

In addition, Abdul Mona'am Abdel Manea, the director of the Ghoul Water Project, told Khuyut that the current pipes used in transporting water are 4 inches in size, in light of the high population density and the many and distant areas covered by the project. This puts great pressure on the deficient water network which lacks the sound infrastructure, and thus reduces its supply capacity to the various areas, which therefore requires replacing the old water pipes with new lines of 8 inches in size in order for the water to reach all the homes and areas smoothly and without any pressure.

Furthermore, he refers to the accumulated responsibilities that exceed the current capabilities of the water network, stressing the importance of the urgent intervention of the state’s public institutions to solve the problems they encounter and relieve the daily suffering of the residents. He stressed on the need to quickly link the current water project to the General Corporation for Water and Sewerage in the governorate.

Lack of Sewage

Many homes in such local and rural areas do not have toilets, amid a lack of awareness about the impacts of this matter on the public health, as it is customary in such situation for males to relieve themselves in the open areas, while females relieve themselves on farms, among trees, or in traditional toilets usually located next to the houses, covered with a roof of cloth, thatch or zinc and used without water in it.

As a result of the lack of drainage in these popular toilets, people and the whole community is as exposed to various health problems, the most important of which are; the spread of insects that transmit infectious diseases, such as the mosquitoes that cause malaria, which these areas have often suffered from it for long time in the past years.

Despite the efforts made to eradicate malaria, in addition to mobilizing and continuing official and popular commitment to prevent and combat it through the national program to combat malaria operated by the Ministry of Public Health and Population, it was not eliminated until near past.

Mohammad Saleh, 42, from the Ba Qashim area, attributes the reasons for this to: “the scarcity of water and its frequent interruption, in addition to the lack of sewage networks in the area.” Thus, inhabitants think that it is useless to establish sanitary latrines in their homes, according to the residents of these areas.

Doctor Badr Mohammad points out that the Hajar district was exposed, during the last period, to two waves of "cholera"; Because the drinking water was mixed with sewage waste for which no special drainage networks are available, while the torrential rains contribute to washing it into the water sources that the people depend on for drinking. This leads to the emergence of many foci of cholera. In addition to a wide spread of schistosomiasis, pinworms, tapeworms and ascaris among the population.

In conclusion, the residents of this district are deprived of their inherent right to live in a safe and clean environment, their access to clean water, sanitary facilities and toilets, and hygiene measures that provide them a healthy start in their lives. They are not even aware of the very harmful effects of unsafe water, sanitation and hygiene facilities, which may sometimes lead to their death without their knowledge.