{"id":3121,"date":"2019-06-14T22:55:59","date_gmt":"2019-06-14T22:55:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sooha.org\/en\/?p=3121"},"modified":"2019-06-15T07:21:09","modified_gmt":"2019-06-15T07:21:09","slug":"new-dam-brings-water-to-dry-puntland-villages","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sooha.org\/en\/2019\/06\/14\/new-dam-brings-water-to-dry-puntland-villages\/","title":{"rendered":"New dam brings water to dry Puntland villages"},"content":{"rendered":"

GAROWE (SoOHA) –<\/strong> A newly built dam in northern Somalia\u2019s drought-ravaged Nugal region is giving a reprieve to thousands of families who have lived through perennial water shortages.<\/p>\n

The dam, with a capacity equivalent to 120,000 barrels, was opened last month by Puntland\u2019s ministry of water in Salahley village in Nugal. It covers 32,000 metres squared and is floored with a waterproof lining to prevent seepage.<\/p>\n

Located 12 km south of Garowe town, Salahley has a population of around 500 families. The dam will also serve another 600 families in nearby villages including Awr-ulus, Remati, Abarey and Yombays.<\/p>\n

Salahley has no boreholes and people had been surviving on a small water catchment that often ran dry. Villagers used to fetch water from Garowe town carried on their backs and on donkey carts<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is real progress!\u201d Mohamed Ahmed Garowe, a pastoralist in Salahley, told Radio Ergo. \u201cWe have been facing water shortages for a long time and we are often forced to move during dry seasons, but we are now relieved,\u201d he praised.<\/p>\n

Mohamed recalled having to flee the village due to lack of water after successive seasons of drought. He has a family of seven children.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor months we were living in another village just because of water, and people were about to die as there was no water to drink,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe village now looks habitable because life cannot exist without water; we are also expecting more from the government to make the village comfortable,\u201d said Mohamed.<\/p>\n

Solar-powered generators pump water from the new dam into troughs.<\/p>\n

Puntland\u2019s Enviroment minister, Ismail Diriye Gama\u2019did, told Radio Ergo that the project aimed to increase access to water in an area where water shortage has persisted for several years and led to conflicts among local communities.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur main aim is to collect the rainwater and make use of it. It will help the community very much because they used to trek for water over long distances,\u201d the minister said.<\/p>\n

He confirmed that that 10 other dams would be constructed with UN Development Programme (UNDP) support in Bari, Mudug, Nugal, Karkar and Sanaag regions to overcome the challenges of water shortage.<\/p>\n

Source: Radio Ergo<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

GAROWE (SoOHA) – A newly built dam in northern Somalia\u2019s drought-ravaged Nugal region is giving a reprieve to thousands of families who have lived through perennial water shortages. The dam, with a capacity equivalent to 120,000 barrels, was opened last month by Puntland\u2019s ministry of water in Salahley village in Nugal. It covers 32,000 metres …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3122,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3121","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","","category-news","category-wash"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t