Study blames illnesses on lack of clean drinking water

Water contamination is the main source of water-borne diseases common in Yemen, according to a parliamentary report published in December. The report, prepared by a parliamentary committee for water and environment, states that 75 percent of Yemen’s 20 million-strong population is threatened by water-borne diseases, due to unclean drinking water. The study goes on to state that some three million people have contracted hepatitis, while about 50 percent of children’s deaths are caused by diarrhoea and 30 percent by malaria and typhoid. The report stresses that a major reason for water pollution is the fact that only about 7 percent of the population enjoys modern and effective systems for water treatment. As a result, the percentage of contaminated water nationwide stands at 90 percent. "Rich people bring drinking water from the capital, where water treatment stations provide clean water,” explained Hussein al-Harithi, a resident of the lower-income district of Bani al-Harith, some 20 km to the north of the capital. Poorer residents, meanwhile, have no choice but to drink polluted water, he complained. Officials at the Ministry Water and Environment also concede that inefficient sanitation systems have contributed to an increase in the pollution of underground water. "Contamination is caused by human and factory waste,” particularly in the country’s major population centres, noted Deputy Minister Mohammed al-Hamdi. “When this waste is treated, some of it leaks, and causes underground water to be polluted.” "These treatment stations cannot provide much sanitation, given that they are very old," he added. Nevertheless, al-Hamdi questioned some of the report’s other conclusions. "We haven’t received reports on diseases because of the use of groundwater," he told IRIN. According to reports issued by the World Bank, the unregulated disposal of municipal and industrial wastewater has further served to contaminate underground water, especially in the Sana basin area. The parliamentary study urges the government to address the issue, particularly in the northern Arhab and Bani al-Harith districts and in Wadi Maitam, some 200 km to the south of the capital.