ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Syrian authorities on Wednesday reopened the Allouk water pumping station in the Kurdish-majority province of Hasaka after seven years of conflict-driven closure.
The station, located in the town of Sare Kani (Ras al-Ain) in the northeastern province, was damaged when Turkey and its Syrian proxies took control of the town and forced Kurdish fighters to withdraw in 2019. Efforts have been ongoing to repair the station since then.
The closure of the key pumping station had impacted hundreds of thousands of people in Hasaka province.
"Today, we witnessed the resumption of pumping from the Allouk water station after more than seven years of interruption," Syrian Energy Minister Mohammed al-Bashir said in a post on X, describing it as a step that "gradually restores water to more than half a million of our people."
He added, "We will continue to work until the station regains its full capacity and stable service is restored, as our people deserve."
Bashir, along with Hasaka Governor Nour al-Din Issa Ahmed, presided over the station's reopening.
Ahmed is affiliated with the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), the town's former governing force, and his appointment has been approved by Damascus.
The Hasaka governor's office said Ahmed had "directed all concerned authorities and technical teams" to expedite the repairs months ago.
Only part of Hasaka province had received water following the repairs at the time of reporting.
"We have been buying water for seven years now and the water we have bought is not potable," one resident in Hasaka province told Rudaw.
The Allouk water station has faced repeated shutdowns and deliberate service disruptions since 2019.
The United Nations has assisted in getting Alloun back online.
UNICEF said in 2021 that the closure had severely restricted water supply to as many as one million people in Hasaka, including displaced families and other vulnerable populations.
Local and international human rights monitors have accused Turkey and the armed groups of deliberately blocking water from the station and delaying regular repairs.
In a March 2020 report, Michael Page, deputy Middle East director at Human Rights Watch (HRW), accused Turkey of "cutting off the water supply to the region most under strain in Syria" during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Ankara rejected the accusations that it was using the Allouk station's water supply as a weapon against the SDF. It also said it did not receive sufficient electricity from the Tishreen and Tabqa dams to the Mabroukeh power plant in Hasaka to operate the station. Both dams were under SDF control until the interim government took them over in January.
Responding to the claim, HRW said the Mabroukeh plant "does not serve the pumping station and that there continues to be enough electricity to operate the water station."
