(ERGO) – Galmudug Ministry of Energy and Water estimates 17,000 families are facing serious water shortages in Mudug, central Somalia, after wells broke down in five settlements two months ago.
Ahmed Hassan Farah, coordinator of the ministry, said 9,000 of the affected families are local pastoralists while the rest are a mixture of people who have been internally displaced by conflict and those who have crossed the Ethiopian-Somali border.
A joint survey conducted between 28 January and 3 February by the Ministry of Energy and Water, the Ministry of Aid and Disaster Management, Mudug regional administration and some aid agencies found that there was a humanitarian crisis caused by water shortages in Wargalo, Wisil, Bajela, Laso Adale and Dhar-dhar.
The ministry coordinator said that pressure on the wells in Wisil and Bajeela had been increased by the arrival of families displaced by conflict in Ba’adweyne. The wells were working overtime and an electrical fault led to the breakdown of the pump. Wisil well broke on January 20, followed by the other four between 20-25 January.
The five wells were the main sources of water for pastoralists in the region. Ahmed told Radio Ergo that no aid has yet been delivered to the affected areas.
Jimale Abdulqadir Hassan, a pastoralist living outside Laso Adale, owns a herd of goats and 20 camels. His family of 12 and two other families came together to buy a 50-barrel water tank for $80 to sustain themselves and their livestock going for the past two weeks. The water delivery came from Decol village, 20 km away.
“We divided the cost among us so that the people and the livestock could get water to drink. Each family contributed $27,” said Jimale. “My relatives in Mogadishu helped me with the money.”
The water crisis comes at a time when the region has been experiencing prolonged hot dry weather. Residents told Radio Ergo the last two rainy seasons brought inadequate rainfall. Invasions of locusts destroyed the little amount of grass and vegetation that grew in the last poor rains.
Ubah Ali Shirwa, a mother of eight children in Laso Adale, has been forced to shut down the small restaurant she runs near the well as no-one is coming there for water.
“I used to earn a lot of money for us to live on from the restaurant, but I was forced to close down because there are no customers now,” she said.
Ubah said she was making $15-$20 a day from the restaurant when the well was open, with some customers visiting twice a day. Now she has to depend on the small money her husband sends them from casual labour jobs in Galkayo.
