. 24/7 Space News .
WATER WORLD
Crisis looms as half of Iraq's Mosul goes without water
by Staff Writers
Mosul, Iraq (AFP) Nov 29, 2016


Hundreds of thousands of people were without water in eastern Mosul Tuesday, residents and officials said, raising fears of a major health crisis in the war-torn Iraqi city.

It was not immediately clear what caused the disruption, but residents on the eastern side of Mosul said they had not had any water supplies for days and were pumping water from wells.

"There is a major shortage of water in many districts on the eastern side," said Basma Basseem, from Mosul municipality.

She said up to 600,000 people living on that side of the Tigris river, which splits the city in two, could be affected.

Some residents said the sudden water shortage was caused by air strikes from the US-led coalition that damaged the main carrier bringing water from the western side of the city.

Basseem suggested that the Islamic State group that Iraqi forces are battling in eastern Mosul may have intentionally stopped the flow.

"There are efforts to bring water tankers to neighbourhoods that have been retaken," Basseem said.

Iraqi commanders said around 40 percent of the eastern half of Mosul has been retaken from the jihadists since a huge offensive began on October 17.

The forces have told civilians to stay at home in order to avoid massive displacement from the city, which was believed to have a population of a million-plus before the operation started.

- 'No water at all' -

Barely more than a third of the 200,000 displaced that the UN had expected in the first few weeks of the offensive have fled their homes so far.

The lack of clean drinking water could now make it difficult for residents to remain, however.

"There is no water -- we drink water from the well. It's very salty and we have to boil it before we drink it," Umm Ahraf, a 45-year-old woman, told AFP in the Khadraa neighbourhood on Tuesday.

"We don't have water at all, we need it, it's the most important thing, how can we live without it?" asked an old man living in the same neighbourhood.

Another resident of eastern Mosul told AFP that people in retaken areas of eastern Mosul were asking Iraqi forces for their supplies of bottled water.

Abdelkarim al-Obeidi, the secretary general of the local civil society organisation Mosul People Gathering, warned of a "humanitarian disaster" in the making.

"The government as well as aid organisations must step up and offer assistance to the people, especially those families forced to drink water from the wells that is not fit for drinking," he said.

The local Nineveh provincial council on Tuesday delivered basic goods to several neighbourhoods of eastern Mosul.

The progress of Iraqi forces that vastly outnumber the estimated 5,000 jihadists defending their last major bastion in Iraq has been slowed by the presence of a large civilian population often used by IS as human shields.


Comment on this article using your Disqus, Facebook, Google or Twitter login.


Thanks for being here;
We need your help. The SpaceDaily news network continues to grow but revenues have never been harder to maintain.

With the rise of Ad Blockers, and Facebook - our traditional revenue sources via quality network advertising continues to decline. And unlike so many other news sites, we don't have a paywall - with those annoying usernames and passwords.

Our news coverage takes time and effort to publish 365 days a year.

If you find our news sites informative and useful then please consider becoming a regular supporter or for now make a one off contribution.
SpaceDaily Contributor
$5 Billed Once


credit card or paypal
SpaceDaily Monthly Supporter
$5 Billed Monthly


paypal only


.


Related Links
Water News - Science, Technology and Politics






Share this article via these popular social media networks
del.icio.usdel.icio.us DiggDigg RedditReddit GoogleGoogle

Previous Report
WATER WORLD
Jordan picks firms for ambitious canal project
Amman (AFP) Nov 28, 2016
Jordan said Monday it had chosen five international consortiums to build the first phase of a multi-million-dollar canal linking the Red Sea to the shrinking Dead Sea. The ambitious $1.1 billion project has been in the works for more than a decade and aims to provide much-needed water to Jordan, Israel and the Palestinian territories. It moved closer to reality in December 2013 when Isr ... read more


WATER WORLD
Embry-Riddle Students Join Project PoSSUM to Test Prototype Spacesuits in Zero-G

NASA on the hunt for space poop geniuses

Orion Crew Module Adapter Lifted in Processing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center

Expandable Habitat Reveals Important Early Performance Data

WATER WORLD
Ariane 5's impressive 75 in-a-row launch record

Vega ready for GOKTURK-1A to be encapsulated

Star One D1 arrives for heavy-lift Ariane 5 in Dec with 2 SSL-built satellites

SLS propulsion system goes into Marshall stand ahead of big test series

WATER WORLD
Mars Ice Deposit Holds as Much Water as Lake Superior

Computer glitch blamed for European Mars lander crash

ESA's new Mars orbiter prepares for first science

NASA field test focuses on science of lava terrains, like Early Mars

WATER WORLD
Material and plant samples retrieved from space experiments

Chinese astronauts return to earth after longest mission

China completes longest manned space mission yet

Chinese astronauts accept 1st earth-space interview

WATER WORLD
Vita: next Space Station mission name and logo

Charyk helped chart the course of satellite communications

Intelsat and Intelsat General support hurricane Matthew recovery efforts

Boeing to consolidate defense and space sites

WATER WORLD
Inside tiny tubes, water turns solid when it should be boiling

Model could shatter a mystery of glass

More reliable way to produce single photons for quantum information imprinting

For platinum catalysts, tiny squeeze gives big boost in performance

WATER WORLD
Scientists from the IAC discover a nearby 'superearth'

Earth-bound instrument analyzes light from planets circling distant stars

Protoplanetary Discs Being Shaped by Newborn Planets

Scientists unveil latest exoplanet-hunter CHARIS

WATER WORLD
New analysis adds to support for a subsurface ocean on Pluto

Pluto follows its cold, cold heart

New Analysis Supports Subsurface Ocean on Pluto

Mystery solved behind birth of Saturn's rings









The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2024 - Space Media Network. All websites are published in Australia and are solely subject to Australian law and governed by Fair Use principals for news reporting and research purposes. AFP, UPI and IANS news wire stories are copyright Agence France-Presse, United Press International and Indo-Asia News Service. ESA news reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. All articles labeled "by Staff Writers" include reports supplied to Space Media Network by industry news wires, PR agencies, corporate press officers and the like. Such articles are individually curated and edited by Space Media Network staff on the basis of the report's information value to our industry and professional readership. Advertising does not imply endorsement, agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space Media Network on any Web page published or hosted by Space Media Network. General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) Statement Our advertisers use various cookies and the like to deliver the best ad banner available at one time. All network advertising suppliers have GDPR policies (Legitimate Interest) that conform with EU regulations for data collection. By using our websites you consent to cookie based advertising. If you do not agree with this then you must stop using the websites from May 25, 2018. Privacy Statement. Additional information can be found here at About Us.