As the Capital Faces Groundwater Shortage and Contamination Dangerous Signs of Water Depletion [Archives:1999/37/Reportage]

Many countries are threatened by an acute shortage of their groundwater in the near future. Yemen is one of these countries. Indicators and studies foresee that, if suitable and quick solutions are not tried, Sana’a groundwater will drain in 2008. How much water is available? Is it really contaminated? What do the concerned authorities say about this problem? Hereunder, is an attempt to find some answers to the questions mentioned above through the visit Ahlam Al-Mutawakel, of Yemen Times paid to the Water Authority, Sana’a Branch. 

Ahlam met with engineer Abdullah Ismaeel, Director of the Sana’a branch, who, in the beginning of his talk, thanked the Yemen Times for its focus on issues that are of great concern to the people, in general. ” Water shortage in the Sana’a tank is known to everyone. Yemen is one of the many other countries that are threatened by the water shortage. What worsens the problem in Yemen is the fact that around 6,000 wells are used to irrigate the Qat trees. We hope that the random well-digging will stop. At the same time, we hope the media, as well as the National Water Resources Authority will do its best to raise the people’s awareness about the great importance of every drop.” About the achievements of the Authority in this regard, Mr. Ismaeel said, ” The Authority has dug a number of emergency wells in the Capital Secretariat to meet the needs of the increasing population. The water network in the old Sana’a, Al-Qaa and Al-Goraf has also been renewed. There is a chemical, as well as a bacteriological contamination in a good number of domestic wells. This contamination is a result of the infiltration of domestic sewage. To solve this problem, the Authority has renewed the general network of sewers.” 

Mr. Ismaeel also talked about the well-water contamination. He said, ” The groundwater contamination was discovered in 1995 after some researches and studies made by Jan Willem Foppen from the SAWAS-III project. The study included around 250 wells. More than 60% of the them were located behind the walls in gardens and small irrigated fields. From every well a groundwater sample was taken and analyzed for all macroparameters at the Central Laboratory of the Faculty of Science at Sana’a University. The result showed that 50% of the samples were contaminated. It also showed that the shallow wells are more contaminated than the deeper wells, indicating that the source of contamination comes from the upper part of the aquifers.
In the area of contamination, around 100 wells are available, 45 of them are domestic and used in homes. The abstracted water from almost all wells is not used as drinking water; it is rather used for washing, cleaning, and for the bathroom. The households depend for their drinking water on the public supply or on water selling points. The 45 domestic wells include 12 wells where the water is sold on a commercial basis. This water is used for drinking water purposes, ignoring the fact that the nitrate concentrations, as the study pointed out, are high: between 50 and 140 mg/l. In some cases, TDS, Chloride and Total Hardness exceed the WHO guideline.
The most likely cause for contamination was found to be the infiltration of domestic sewage. Used domestic water is collected in “cesspits”. A cesspit is usually a deep pit with a total depth ranging from 5-10 meters in sandy soil to about 25 meters in clayey soil. The sewage infiltrates into the aquifers via these cesspits. In 1984, NWRA mapped the cesspits in the central parts of Sana’a; every household had on the average 1-2 cesspit. According to the study of the SAWAS-III, the amount of infiltrating domestic sewage was estimated to be around 14E6 m/year.
Besides the chemical contamination, there is also a bacteriological contamination which is believed to be mainly caused by the way the water is handled, while and after being abstracted: the pipes that abstract the water, including reservoirs on top of houses, pipelines from wells to houses, reservoirs of water selling points and the small water trucks, could contain bacteria if not occasionally and properly cleaned. The above facts were abstracted from a study made around five years ago. To know what is going on at the present time, Ahlam Al-Mutawakel paid another visit to the Laboratory of the Water General Authority, The Sana’a Branch, and met with Ali Al-Yadoomi, the laboratory director. When asked about the number of wells to be found in Sana’a and the amount of their contamination, Mr. Al-Yadoomi said: “There are 6000 public and governmental wells in Sana’a. 54 of the total number of wells are located in the Secretariat Capital. Groundwater samples have been abstracted from 43 public wells to be analyzed. The result showed that 60% of the public wells is chemically and bacteriologically contaminated.
The chemical contamination is very harmful, especially to the children. This type of contamination can not be treated by chloride or by boiling. Unfortunately, The equipment needed to do such treatment is not available in Yemen. As far as the governmental wells are concerned, only two are contaminated.” ” We anticeptisize the governmental wells whenever a pipe cracks to avoid any type of contamination. The public wells are not under our supervision. At the same time, licenses are issued by the National Water Resources Authority,” said Mr. Al-Yadoomi. About the bottled water, the same source added that many studies and analyses have been done on samples taken from the water bottles available in the Yemeni market. The result of the analysis showed that some of the samples analyzed are not suitable for drinking. The reasons for this are the following facts:
– In some cases the source itself is polluted
– Antiseptic substances are not added – The carelessness during bottling
Hydrogeologist Noory Gamal, Director General of the Public Relations & Communications of the National Water Resources Authority (NWRA) highlighted the role of the (NWRA) in the following lines: ” The N.W.R.A. is the only official responsible Authority for the water resources, as well as making plans and strategies for better management of these resources. In relation to the environmental issues related to the water resources, the Authority is concerned about taking the suitable measures to protect the water resources from contamination. In this regard, the Authority is doing a lot of researches studies and inventories to evaluate the quality of the water in these areas, as well as to determine the source and amount of contamination. The results, of course, will help us take the needed steps to lessen the problem of contamination. In cooperation with the concerned Ministries, the National Water Resources Authority has finished the project of the Water Standard Specifications according to the use of the water including drinking, irrigation, etc. This project is to be brought before the Cabinet to be issued.” 

Regarding the water overflow in Al-Hassabah pan that threatens the building, as well as their occupants, Mr. Noory said, ” I was appointed by the Ministry of Petroleum in 1989 to do research on the geological and hydrological phenomena related to the water overflow in the area of Al-Hassabah. After a number of inventories in 1989, I brought a detailed report before the concerned authorities in which I drew their attention to the importance of completing the sewage network to avoid the sewage infiltration through the aquifers.” “In cooperation with the Sciences and Technology Center of Sana’a University, I gathered a lot of data about the wells available in Sana’a in 1990. The research included wells in Al-Rawdhah, The Sana’a International Airport area, Haddah, Sho’ob, Assafiah, the Azraqain area and the Thawrah City Stadium Area. The result of the research was then given to the Environment Protection Council. It showed that most of the water samples taken from the wells located in the areas mentioned above are chemically and bacteriologically contaminated,” said Mr. Noory, when asked about the quality of The Sana’a groundwater. “According to the latest study made by the N.W.R.A., a number of 6000 wells are present in Sana’a. Most of these wells are used for irrigation, mainly, irrigating the qat trees.
The average of the water used to irrigate the qat trees is twice the average of that used for drinking and other purposes inside the house. In addition, some of the wells are contaminated due to the cesspits, the waste of the factories and industries, as well as the chemical fertilizers.” ” To avoid the problem,” said Noory ,at the end of the interview, a suitable sewage network must be executed and digging cesspits must be stopped.”
——
[archive-e:37-v:1999-y:1999-d:1999-09-13-p:./1999/iss37/report.htm]