Syria - Valuing Water - Damascus
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⇒ Episode 7 - MDG 7: Ensure environmental sustainability
Valuing Water
Damascus Rural Water
and Sanitation
a project implemented by the Government of Syria,
Damascus, Syria
November 2010
co-financed by the European Investment Bank
Water is the most precious resource of humanity. With more and more people migrating to cities and with cities becoming more prosperous, especially in developing countries, the demand for water in urban areas has grown manifold. Syria’s population grows at more than 2.6% per year. 56% of this population lives in urban areas.
Damascus, the capital city of Syria, is no different from its sister capital cities across the developing world. The Greater Damascus area has more than 4 million inhabitants. 70% of the water is used by rural areas around the 30% is shared by residential, commercial and industrial neighbourhoods. The urban rich solve water problems by buying water from private tankers while many poor families share a common source of water.
Acknowledging the increasing demand for water and the need to preserve and recycle this precious resource, the Syrian government requested the European Investment Bank and the Government of Germany to support setting up of pilot wastewater treatment plants and a sewerage system in Southern Damascus. The bank has provided financing of more than 1.7 billion Euros since the start of its activities in Syria in 1978. This specific cooperation between the European Investment Bank and the Damascus Water authority aimed at improving water and sanitation services and establishing a best practice in the management of this sector. Through the GFA consulting group, the bank provides expert advice on managing, benchmarking and technical aspects.
Alongside the infrastructure part of the project, the Syrian government increases awareness, among religious leaders, teachers, parents, students, on the value of water, the public role in conserving it and ways to harness and recycle it.
We went to a mosque in Damascus to meet the Imam of a mosque who talks about environment issues during his sermons and also recycles water. We also went to meet school children who learn about why there is a need to save and recycle water.
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Additional Notes
Imam shares that “all living things are partners to man in existence and they deserve their own respect."
As befits a faith born in the desert, water is honoured as "the secret of life." Islam forbids the wastage of water "and the usage thereof without benefit. The preservation of water for the drinking of mankind, animal life, bird life and vegetation is a form of worship which gains the pleasure of Allah."
Conservation is an important part of Islamic teaching. It is a way of living that should be implemented through the Muslim's whole life: not as an ad hoc solution to shortages, nor in occasional situations, but at all times, both good and bad. Islamic teachings emphasize adherence to balance and the just satisfaction of individual and group desires and needs. Such teachings are based on various texts of the Holy Quran: "O children of Adam! Wear your beautiful apparel at every time and place of prayer: eat and drink: but waste not by excess for Allah loveth not wasters"
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Municipal water demand in Greater Damascus is increasing due to population growth of 2.6% per year (1990–2000) and also to higher living standards leading to higher water demand. Water resources management in Greater Damascus, a metropolitan area with more than 4 million inhabitants, is characterized by numerous challenges, including groundwater overexploitation, increasing water demand, intermittent supply, and pollution. This imbalance leads to intermittent supply and coping costs in the form of expensive sales of water by tankers. Poor neighborhoods suffer disproportionately from the area’s water problems. Irrigation in the rural parts of Greater Damascus still accounts for about 70% of water use in the metropolitan area, with the remainder being used for residential, commercial and industrial use.
The European Investment Bank financed the construction of four wastewater treatment plants to serve more than 400,000 inhabitants in the Southwest of Damascus. Germany is also financing a wastewater treatment plant and associated sewers in the Yarmouk area South of Damascus. It has provided financing of close to EUR 1.7 billion since the start of its activities in Syria in 1978, with a significant increase since the establishment of FEMIP in 2002. The EIB and the Water authority agreed on two main objectives for the outcome of this project: (i) Improved and sustainable water and sanitation services in the area covered by the EIB financed investment project; (ii) A contribution to best practice experiences in Syria regarding the management of water supply and sanitation. The objective of the project is to improve the technical and financial performance of the Damascus Water Supply and Sewerage Authority’s water and sanitation services in the area of Rural Damascus. The project has developed operation and maintenance procedures that serve as best practice experiences in Syria. GFA experts provide inputs in business planning and benchmarking, technical work planning, water loss reduction, customer information, billing and accounting as well as human resources development.
As part of an institution reform programme, driven by the Government of Syria (GoS), the Ministry of Housing and Construction (MHC) has agreed for the General Establishment of Drinking Water and Sewerage of Rural Province of Damascus (the Establishment) to enter into an agreement with the European Investment Bank (EIB), for funding towards institutional development of the Establishment. This project funding is running in parallel with a larger project to invest in new resources and wastewater treatment facilities, funded by the EIB and the European Union (EU).
Public awareness is an essential component of water conservation programmes and therefore the cooperation of everyone, including consumers, service providers and policy-makers in designing and implementing conservation measures is essential. Both education and raising awareness are indispensable if attitudes are to be changed. The public needs to be aware of its role in conserving water resources.
To this end, the
First Children Water Awareness Festival was organised, during which a group of
talented kids presented a play about water saving. Kids played different roles
including the water drop, farmers and the sun.
To respond to the challenge of providing safe water to all residents of
Damascus, fostering a culture of saving water is very important. The
government often relies on religious leaders for this support. The Imam of the
mosque promotes the recycling of ablution water in irrigating the big garden
attached to the mosque.
The Imam shares that “all living things are partners to man in existence and they deserve their own respect." As befits a faith born in the desert, water is honoured as "the secret of life." Islam forbids the wastage of water "and the usage thereof without benefit. The preservation of water for the drinking of mankind, animal life, bird life and vegetation is a form of worship which gains the pleasure of Allah."
Conservation is an
important part of Islamic teaching. It is a way of living that should be
implemented through the Muslim's whole life: not as an ad hoc solution to
shortages, nor in occasional situations (Madani 1989), but at all times, both
good and bad. Islamic teachings emphasize adherence to balance and the just
satisfaction of individual and group desires and needs. Such teachings are
based on various texts of the Holy Quran: "O children of Adam! Wear your
beautiful apparel at every time and place of prayer: eat and drink: but waste
not by excess for Allah loveth not wasters"
Additional Information
The government has responded to the challenges of providing safe water to
Damascus residents by banning the drilling of new agricultural wells,
promoting water-saving irrigation techniques, rehabilitating the distribution
network to reduce leakage, investing heavily in wastewater treatment for
reuse, and experimenting with Groundwater recharge.
The utility in charge of water supply and sanitation in Damascus is the
Damascus Water Supply and Sewerage Authority, which is under the authority of
the Minister of Housing and Construction. The utility’s service area includes
the governorate of Damascus and parts of the surrounding Damascus Rif (Rural
Damascus) governorate.
In April 2009 the Syrian Government merged the two public water utilities
operating in the Greater Damascus area, the Damascus Water and Sanitation
Establishment (DWSSA) that operated in the Damascus governorate and the Rural
Damascus Water Establishment (R-DWSSA) that operated in the Rural Damascus
Governorate, into a single utility also bearing the name DWSSA. The decision
was prompted by the need to better coordinate operations in the physically
integrated service area of Greater Damascus, and to speed up the
implementation of projects in rural Damascus governorate that had suffered
from the limited execution capacity of R-DWSSA.
In Islam, the relationship between humans and water is part of daily social existence, which is based on the Muslim belief that everything on earth worships the same God. This worship is not merely ritual practice, because rituals are simply the symbolic human manifestation of submission to God. Rather, worship consists of actions that can be performed by all creatures that share the planet with the human race. Moreover, humans are responsible for the welfare and sustenance of the other citizens of this global environment. Water is the most precious and valuable resource of the physical environment for all living things.
The link between life
and water is explicitly stated in several verses of the Holy Quran, for
example, "We made from water everything"; "And Allah sends down rain from the
skies, and gives therewith life to the earth after its death. "Islam places
strong emphasis on the achievement of perfect harmony between spiritual and
physical purification. Physical purification cannot be achieved except by
ablution and bathing (ghusl), which both require clean water. Therefore,
purity and cleanliness of water receive a great deal of attention in both the
Holy Quran and the sunnah, and Muslims are urged not to pollute water. "The
Messenger of Allah forbade to urinate in stagnant water";4 "Let no one of you
bathe in stagnant water to remove the state of ceremonial impurity";5 and
"Guard against the three practices which invite people's curses: evacuating
one's bowels near water sources, by the roadside and in the shade."6
Web sites with additional information about the project/action</small>
Damascus Rural Water and Sanitation Project
Rural Water and Sanitation Project – Syria
Ministry of Housing and Construction
European Investment Bank stops loans to Syria
[1]
Arab Center for the Studies of Arid Zones and Dry Lands (ACSAD) and the German
Federal Institute for Geosciences and Natural Resources (BGR):Cooperation
project "Management, Protection and Sustainable Use of Groundwater and Soil
Resources in the Arab Region":Pilot Project in the Damascus Ghouta