Through support from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) is rehabilitating water systems across Shabwah, including a site in Al Shobikah, Ataq, which will provide over 40,000 people access to clean water once completed.

The people of Ataq have struggled to address their daily water needs since the start of the conflict, and with COVID-19 now in Yemen, this lack of access to water has become even more dangerous. A key COVID-19 mitigation measure is ensuring that communities have enough water to practice healthy hygiene practices like regular handwashing.

Al Shobikah water basin in Ataq has seven underground water wells, which supply up to 70 per cent of the city’s population. However, due to poor maintenance and other factors related to the conflict resulted in sporadic water supply.

Working closely with the local General Authority of Water and Sanitation and the WASH Sub-National Cluster in Aden, this KSrelief-IOM project will supply water to the majority of the population in Ataq city, the capital of Shabwah governorate.

Through the installation of a complete system including solar panels, which will generate clean energy to pump the water from the wells into the water network. The solar energy will help pump water into the city water network and distribute that water to the city of Ataq which is located 18 kilometres away from the Al Shobikah wells.

“The situation was very difficult. There is a serious shortage of water and most people buy from water trucks. This project will solve the problem and spare the city from the cost of fuel,” said Ammar Al-Ahmdai, IOM’s field engineer and acting governorate focal in Shabwah.

Currently, IOM is in the process of installing a total of 1220 solar panels, which will produce a significant amount of energy in an environmentally friendly manner. It is expected that 144,000 litres of water will be pumped into the water network per hour, once this project is complete.