An international delegation draws up a comprehensive maintenance plan for the "Alluk" station in Al-Hasakah

Al-Hasakah – Syrian News (Special) – Khalil Aqtini

A field visit by international organizations to the "Alluk" water station in Al-Hasakah province to lay the foundations for its maintenance after years of suspension in the context of working to end the water crisis that more than one million citizens in the region suffered over the past years.

  A joint delegation comprising the Syrian Arab Red Crescent Organization, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) conducted an exploratory field visit to the Alluk water plant in the countryside of Ras al-Ain, to lay the first building blocks for a comprehensive maintenance process that will restore life to this vital facility.

Urgent humanitarian response for one million people

The Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Red Crescent Branch in Al-Hasakah, Khader Mutlaq Al-Zaher,  confirmed in an exclusive statement to "Syrian News" that the visit came to determine the precise technical and logistical needs to return the station to work.

Al-Zaher described the intervention of international organizations as "the utmost humanitarian necessity", explaining that the Alluk plant is not just a water facility, but the only "lifeline" for the residents of the city of al-Hasakah, the town of Tal Tamr and the surrounding villages.

"Our goal is to resume regular water pumping, to end the dependence of residents on tanker water, which not only straits their pockets, but also threatens their health with the spread of diseases and epidemics. We are working on technical solutions that ensure the sustainability of operation by connecting the plant to a stable electricity grid and maintaining damaged wells and machinery," said Al Dhaher.

Role Formatting. A Race Against Time

For his part, the Director General of the Public Drinking Water Corporation in Hasakah, Eng. Mohammed Othman, revealed in a similar statement a series of intensive coordination meetings held with international partners to accelerate the pace of field work.

Othman explained that the current phase is witnessing "technical recovery" operations for the plant, which included mechanical equipment such as comprehensive cleaning of engines and pumps, performing lubrication and adjustment operations, electrical calibration and inspecting panels and extensions to ensure its readiness to receive electricity, as well as logistical support by  providing the necessary replacement parts to restart the malfunctioning wells.

Electrical Solution: Mobile Station Enters Service

In parallel with the work inside the plant, electrical efforts are a critical factor in the success of the mission.

Othman pointed out that the head of the operations unit in the Eastern Province, Eng. Ahmed Salmani, inspected the Derbasiyah power station after the arrival of a "mobile substation" that was designed to be an alternative to the decommissioned main station.

Othman pointed out that the electricity workshops are currently continuing the work of connecting and calibrating the protections on the network, stressing that this mobile station will provide the necessary energy to operate the wells of Aluk, in addition to improving the electrical and service reality in the Al-Derbasiya area and its villages.

The problem is electrical first

In a previous statement to Syria News, the director of the electricity company in Al-Hasakah, Engineer Saleh Idris,  pointed out that the main problem that caused the Alluk water station to stop pumping in the previous stages was related to electrical power and not to any other factor.

The station was fed with the necessary energy to operate the horizontal and vertical pumps from the Al-Derbasiya substation, which was supplying the station with a quantity that exceeded its actual needs, according to the director of Al-Hasakah Electricity, sufficient to operate all the technical, mechanical and electrical pumps and equipment of the station, but the encroachments on the power transmission line from Al-Derbasiyah station to the Alluk station, whether for domestic uses or to operate artesian well pumps to irrigate agricultural fields, were putting a great pressure on the substation, which led to the interruption of the supply to the Alluk station.

Eng. Idris also pointed to another challenge, represented by encroachments on the water traction line extending from the Alluk station to the Hamma collection station near the city of Al-Hasakah, with a length of about 70 km, from which water was withdrawn to irrigate nearby agricultural fields.

Idris explained  that the Ministry of Energy has taken these matters into account, and has installed a mobile power station in the countryside of Al-Derbasiya to feed the Alluk water station with electrical energy on the one hand, and to feed the service and household loads in the Al-Derbasiya area on the other hand, indicating that technicians are currently connecting this mobile station to ensure the effective operation of mechanical motors and vertical wells in the Alluk station, after the Ministry recently took over the station.

Alluk Station. ID card

Established in 2003, the Alluk plant is one of the largest water projects in the region, with  34 artesian wells deep up to 250 meters below the ground,  and a  70-kilometer water traction line extending from the Ras Al Ain countryside to the collection basins in the "Al-Hamma" area.  

The plant feeds the city of Al-Hasakah and its suburbs, in addition to the town of Tal Tamr and about 55 villages affiliated to it , and serves more than one million people within a geographical area of more than 30 km.

Future Prospects: Water Security First

The restart of Alluk will reduce the cost of living for the residents, who have been burdened by the prices of water  they buy through tankers, especially in the summer, and will enhance food and health security in the region, they say.

With the commitment of international organizations (UNICEF and the Red Cross), all eyes are on the summer of 2026 to be a "water stable" summer, pending the completion of the electrical connection and the start of the pumps, which have been suspended for a long time since 2019.

The cooperation between local institutions and international organizations in Alluk represents a model of humanitarian work that transcends field challenges for the benefit of civilian lives, with high hopes that the era of tankers will end and water will return to its course in public networks.