Residents protest recurring water cuts at Sulaymaniyah housing complex

SULAYMANIYAH, Iraq — Residents of a housing complex operated by Nûzad Company in the Sarce neighborhood of Sulaymaniyah held a protest on Sunday over recurring summer water outages, calling on authorities to find a lasting solution. Shine Ali, a resident who addressed reporters at the demonstration, said water at the site had been cut for nine days, with only two hours of limited supply on Saturday. She noted that the company routinely attributes the outages to maintenance or repairs, but questioned why such work is repeatedly scheduled during the summer months. The complex houses roughly 3,000 families, or about 15,000 people in households averaging five members, according to residents. Ali said the falling value of salaries has made it increasingly difficult for families to buy water by tanker, and added that much of the water transported in is not safe for consumption. She said children in the complex have suffered rising cases of diarrhea and vomiting each summer from the use of unclean water, and described the years-long failure to resolve the issue as a violation of residents' rights. No statement from the company or local authorities was immediately available.