Deir ez-Zor Water Authority Launches Conservation and Awareness Drive
The General Establishment for Drinking Water and Sanitation in Deir ez-Zor is intensifying its efforts to improve water resource management through a series of awareness campaigns. This initiative is being conducted in strategic partnership with the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) to ensure that water reaches intended beneficiaries and to protect local networks from unauthorized interference.
The campaign focuses primarily on educating residents about the risks of using drinking water for irrigation. Officials noted that this practice places excessive pressure on distribution networks, ultimately depriving many areas of their allocated water supply. The outreach also emphasizes the importance of water conservation to ensure the long-term sustainability of resources, while highlighting health risks associated with contaminated water, such as cholera and hepatitis A.
、“Hala Al-Haj Taha, Director of Public Relations and International Cooperation at the Deir ez-Zor Water Establishment, explained that the project—abbreviated as ‘SPC’—aims to establish effective and sustainable communication channels between the utility and the public. The initiative involves forming active community networks to support national strategies for water conservation.
To ensure the success of these efforts, the company has launched an intensive four-day training program for its staff focused on social and behavioral change. The training provides participants with the skills necessary to design and implement field awareness campaigns capable of fostering positive community behavior regarding rational water usage.
Khaled Al-Abdullah, a behavioral change trainer with UNICEF, noted that the program focuses on empowering local personnel to apply advanced strategies aimed at curbing illegal network tampering and reinforcing the citizen’s role as a partner in protecting the governorate’s infrastructure. Qassem Al-Hassan, an engineer participating in the training, stated that the program helps simplify the delivery of awareness messages to residents, particularly regarding the importance of separating irrigation and drinking water networks and avoiding practices that deplete water supplies intended for household use.
These awareness campaigns coincide with ongoing field operations led by the Deir ez-Zor Governorate to rehabilitate treatment plants and replace damaged water and sewage networks in the cities of Deir ez-Zor, Mayadin, and Al-Busayrah. Supported by funding from international organizations, these integrated efforts aim to improve the quality of basic services and increase infrastructure efficiency to ensure safe, clean drinking water for citizens and to reduce the unnecessary waste of water resources.
Source: Syria Focus Arabic
