Al-Hawl village is located in the Harf-Sufian District of Amran. It’s here that many IDPs from Sa’adah and al-Jawf have taken refuge. Like many parts of the country, water supply is a major issue - for residents and IDPs alike. Since this area lacks any source of surface water, almost all people buy water for domestic use from commercial water tankers.

Saving Money and Effort

The creation of a sustainable water source for al-Hawl village doesn’t only mean saving money for residents, where the price of a water tanker is around YER 15,000 - a huge sum of money for most Yemenis under the current circumstances. At the same time, it will re-duce the hardship on women and children who had to travel long distances by foot under the harsh sun to fetch 40 liters of water. The additional benefit for the village is the availa-bility of irrigation water for agriculture, which will improve the living conditions for people of the area.

Hardship

Buying a water tanker in the village of al-Hawl is not as easy as one can imagine, says Mo-hamed Sanhoub, one of the residents of the area, but rather 5-10 families have to share the cost of one water- tanker, which is then split in liters between those families.

He adds: “The only other available option is to travel long distances - about an hour walk on foot under the hot sun. However, the construction of a rainwater harvesting reservoir in the area by the PWP will address the problem. It will also provide water for irrigation and improve the living conditions of the people of the area.”