Residents of Jurf Al-Gharbi District in Madinah have urged the Water Department to implement the sewage network project in the district as quickly as possible to prevent destruction of their homes and nearby roads as a result of overflow.

“The department promised us to carry out the project in 2013 to provide connection to the sewage network, which has reached five kilometer away from the district, but has not yet fulfilled the promise,” a resident told Al-Madina Arabic daily.

Residents complained that sewage water surfaced inside their homes and got mixed with drinking water in the network inside homes, Al-Madina said. The overflow of sewage has also spread nasty odor inside the district and residents fear it would spread

Saleh Jablawi, director general of the Water Department in the Madinah region, said it was the municipality’s responsibility to reduce the groundwater level in order to prevent overflow of sewage.

“The municipality should take measures to prevent overflow of sewage until the completion of the sewage network project. They should remove sewage water from the street,” he added.

“Jurf Al-Gharbi is a well known district in Madinah and we’ll implement the sewage project as quickly as possible. Construction of the main sewage line at the Jamiat Road, which passes by the district, will be completed shortly. The district will have a full-fledged sewage system,” he explained. Jablawi promised that trucks would be used to remove the surfaced sewage water in the streets and nearby homes.

Salama Al-Luhaibi, spokesman of the Madinah Mayoralty, said the sewage problem in the district would be solved by the concerned authorities.

“We’ll not provide any trucks to remove sewage water from the street because the matter does not come under our jurisdiction,” he added. However, he underscored the good coordination between the mayoralty and the water department.

Ahmed Al-Sinani, a sociologist, spoke about the suffering of the district’s residents as a result of the overflow of sewage. “We have informed the mayoralty about this issue about 10 years ago but they have not taken any action.” Mayoralty officials have blamed high groundwater level for the problem.

Salama Al-Anazi said the sewage had damaged pipeline inside his home. “The overflowing sewage has mixed with the drinking water tank located on the ground. This situation has forced us to pump the drinking water to a storage tank in the terrace of our building,” he added.

Nashmi Al-Baidani said the overflowing sewage has caused damages to his house’s walls inside and outside, adding that it was also spreading diseases. He refuted the claim that the district’s groundwater level is high, adding that the problem was created by overflowing sewage.

Hassan Al-Anazi said Jurf Al-Gharbi district was established as early as 1390H, about 47 years ago before the formation of Aziziya, Daeetha, Hijrah, Faisaliyah, Muhammadiyah and Shaibiyah. These districts have already received the sewage service but Jurf is still waiting to have it, he added.

Mohammed Al-Anazi described the overflow of sewage as a big issue and urged a quick action from the authorities. He feared the presence of sewage water near houses and in the streets would produce disease-carrying mosquitoes and flies.