Libyans Dig For Water In Least Test For Capital's Residents.
Across Libya’s capital residents have started drilling through pavements to access wells in a desperate search for water after the taps ran dry in a new low for living conditions.
After years of neglect, workers turned off the water to do urgent maintenance earlier this month, cutting supplies to many Tripoli households. Then an armed group sabotaged the system, prolonging the misery.
The water crisis is a powerful symbol of state failure in a country that was once one of the wealthiest in the Middle East but has been gripped by turmoil since a 2011 uprising unseated Muammar Qaddafi.
For Libyans the chaos has meant power cuts and crippling cash shortages. These are often made worse by battles between armed groups vying for control of the fractured oil-rich state and its poorly-maintained infrastructure.
“We haven’t had water for 10 days. The state does nothing,” said Nasser Said, a landlord in Tripoli’s upmarket Ben Ashour district.
Already equipped with a generator to keep the power running during outages that sometimes last more than a day, he hired drillers to dig some 31 meters to extract groundwater for the six apartments in the residential block he owns.
“Afterwards an armed group... set one power plant on fire which closed three other plants and shut down 24 wells.”
That has deprived residents of water while boosting the business of drillers who for 4,000-6,000 Libyan dinars ($2,940-$4,410 at the official exchange rate) access groundwater unused in some neighborhoods since the Great Man Made River started pumping water to Tripoli in 1996.
Abdulsalam Forganea, a 23-year-old worker helping to operate an aging drilling rig said, “We drill about three wells in two weeks — it takes about three to four days to drill a well.”
The city has seen fewer big clashes since a handful of armed groups aligned with the GNA earlier this year.
A former prime minister was abducted in August for nine days by one of the two most powerful armed groups, while the other engaged in a battle this month that shut down the airport.
Public health services are failing, inflation has spiraled, and the start of the school year has been delayed by several weeks because teachers are striking over salaries.
Shutdowns crippled oil revenues so little has been spent on repairs and maintenance, and the water network and other infrastructure have been corroded.
Most government spending goes on public salaries, including for former rebel groups that forced their way onto the state payroll after Qaddafi’s overthrow.
“No budget has been transferred... since 2011 except the emergency budget, which is the result of the financial difficulties experienced by the Libyan state,” said Naji Assaed, head of the Libyan Water Authority.
Production at desalination plants has fallen sharply, with output at a plant in the western town of Zuwara dropping from 80,000 cubic liters to 16,000 cl annually.
Across Libya’s capital residents have started drilling through pavements to access wells in a desperate search for water after the taps ran dry in a new low for living conditions.
After years of neglect, workers turned off the water to do urgent maintenance earlier this month, cutting supplies to many Tripoli households. Then an armed group sabotaged the system, prolonging the misery.
The water crisis is a powerful symbol of state failure in a country that was once one of the wealthiest in the Middle East but has been gripped by turmoil since a 2011 uprising unseated Muammar Qaddafi.
For Libyans the chaos has meant power cuts and crippling cash shortages. These are often made worse by battles between armed groups vying for control of the fractured oil-rich state and its poorly-maintained infrastructure.
“We haven’t had water for 10 days. The state does nothing,” said Nasser Said, a landlord in Tripoli’s upmarket Ben Ashour district.
Already equipped with a generator to keep the power running during outages that sometimes last more than a day, he hired drillers to dig some 31 meters to extract groundwater for the six apartments in the residential block he owns.
“Afterwards an armed group... set one power plant on fire which closed three other plants and shut down 24 wells.”
That has deprived residents of water while boosting the business of drillers who for 4,000-6,000 Libyan dinars ($2,940-$4,410 at the official exchange rate) access groundwater unused in some neighborhoods since the Great Man Made River started pumping water to Tripoli in 1996.
Abdulsalam Forganea, a 23-year-old worker helping to operate an aging drilling rig said, “We drill about three wells in two weeks — it takes about three to four days to drill a well.”
The city has seen fewer big clashes since a handful of armed groups aligned with the GNA earlier this year.
A former prime minister was abducted in August for nine days by one of the two most powerful armed groups, while the other engaged in a battle this month that shut down the airport.
Public health services are failing, inflation has spiraled, and the start of the school year has been delayed by several weeks because teachers are striking over salaries.
Shutdowns crippled oil revenues so little has been spent on repairs and maintenance, and the water network and other infrastructure have been corroded.
Most government spending goes on public salaries, including for former rebel groups that forced their way onto the state payroll after Qaddafi’s overthrow.
“No budget has been transferred... since 2011 except the emergency budget, which is the result of the financial difficulties experienced by the Libyan state,” said Naji Assaed, head of the Libyan Water Authority.
Production at desalination plants has fallen sharply, with output at a plant in the western town of Zuwara dropping from 80,000 cubic liters to 16,000 cl annually.
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