Maintenance work suspends water supply in Amman, Zarqa areas until Thursday

AMMAN — The temporary suspension of water from the Disi pipeline, which started on Sunday,  will continue until next Thursday evening, affecting supply in several areas of Amman and Zarqa, the Ministry of Water and Irrigation and the Jordan Water Company Miyahuna announced.

Spokesperson of the Ministry Omar Salameh said in remarks to The Jordan Times that the pumping was suspended for preventive maintenance by the company operating the Disi Water Conveyance Project.

“This annual maintenance work is scheduled for the purpose of maintaining the pumping of water to all customers of the company, so although inconvenient, it is both necessary and helpful on the long term,” Salameh added. 

The suspension will affect areas in Amman and Zarqa as well as their suburbs, which triggered a protest online. 

“Since the pumping is scheduled months before, why are we not, as consumers who pay more than 20 per cent of the bill in taxes, notified weeks or days beforehand?” asked Sanaa Hammoudeh, a Rusaifa resident, an area which is to be affected by the suspension.

In a complaint posted on Miyahuna’s Facebook page, Hammoudeh said that she has not had water pumped to her house for the past two weeks.

“This means that by next Thursday, my neighbourhood will not have had any water pumped to it in three weeks, as we were hoping to have our pumping turn this week,” she added.

The ministry’s spokesperson said in reply to citizens’ complaints that the programmed halt will “only partially affect specific areas, with the pumping restored to the areas most in need and those that have not had their turn in a while.”

While Miyahuna called on the public to “take the necessary precautions and prepare well by storing sufficient quantities of water” to meet their needs during the suspension period, dozens of comments asked the company to alert them via text message or a social media post next time.

 “One portion of the tax in the bill is for ‘customer notifications’, why am I paying this if I, as a customer, will not be notified days before a suspension?” asked Reem Ali, a teacher, on Facebook.

Ali said that as more than 100 areas in Amman and Zarqa will be affected, the “widespread suspension is worthy of a customer notification beforehand. The amount of tax allocated for service in the company’s bills are not proportionate to the company’s service,” she concluded.