Residents from Houn gathered in the city centre on Wednesday to protest against the deteriorated water services in their area, demanding an end to their continuing sufferings of water shortages that have been going on for several years, especially in the summer season.

Zubair Al-Arabi, a journalist and a resident of Houn, told The Libya Observer that the Al-Mujahid neighbourhood has been with no water supply for more than two months.

"More than a thousand housing units in the Mujahid neighborhood lack running water, and families depend mainly on water trucks to fetch their needs of water with a cost of 120 dinars for each truck."

The causes of the water crisis in Houn vary between the deterioration of electricity services, sabotage acts on public water networks, and the lack of capabilities and resources.

The Jufra Steering Council, for instance, has not received a budget since 2019, according to Al-Zubair.

He also indicated that the basin in the Sukna town pumps water to the entire region of Al-Jufra.

"In 2011, this area was subjected to intense bombardment as it was a supply centre and an arms depot for the former regime, which caused many wells to go out of service, while the numerous promises to dig new wells had failed to materialize," he added.

Another issue was the illegal connections. "The water lines feeding Houn extend through agricultural areas, and this prompted many farm owners to install illegal water lines instead of digging their own wells," Al-Zubair explains.

The protesters called on the Government of National Unity (GNU) to assign a ministerial delegation to look into the region's problems and provide the necessary resources to the local authorities and institutions.