Restoring Water Access for Families Returning to Hasraya
In Hasraya, in the Muhradah area of Hama Governorate, Syria, access to water had become a daily challenge for families in the village and the neighboring communities of Eastern and Western Abu Ruwayda. With unreliable water supplies, many households depended on water trucking or travelled to nearby villages to collect water, adding to household expenses and making everyday tasks more difficult. For families returning after displacement, securing enough water was another challenge to manage as they re-established their lives.
For Marwan, who returned to Hasraya, obtaining water for his family was a challenge. Water trucking and collecting water from neighboring villages helped the family meet its survival needs but came with a heavy cost and effort.
“We used to think every day about how to secure water for our families. Today, this concern has become much less, and it has made a real difference in our lives,” Marwan explains. “When you see water reaching people’s homes more reliably, you feel that life is gradually returning to normal.”
For Fawza, another resident of Hasraya, the return of water through the household network was something she had been waiting for.
Before the rehabilitation works, she and her husband had to relied on unsafe alternative sources of water for cooking, washing, cleaning and other household needs. Hearing that pumping would resume prompted her to prepare at home for the return of the service. “I missed having water reach our home through the network,” Fawza recalls. “When we first heard that water would be pumped again after the rehabilitation works, I immediately started preparing everything at home. I was really happy and began preparing the water tanks. It was a moment we had been waiting for a long time.” The improved water supply followed rehabilitation works carried out by Action Against Hunger, with support from the Syria Humanitarian Fund (SHF). The intervention included rehabilitating the borehole at the Hasraya pumping station, installing a new submersible pump and introducing a solar power system to operate it.
Approximately 1,300 metres of the water network in Hasraya were also rehabilitated to improve water distribution and service reliability across the targeted communities. For Marwan and his family, improved access through the network has reduced their reliance on water trucking and collecting water from nearby villages, particularly during the summer. This has helped ease the cost of securing water and made it easier to manage daily household needs.
Fawza has also noticed a difference. “Having water available again has made day to day life much easier for my family and for many people in the village,” she says.
The rehabilitation benefits households across Hasraya, Eastern Abu Ruwayda and Western Abu Ruwayda. By improving the infrastructure used to pump and distribute water, the project has helped address some of the practical difficulties families faced in accessing this essential service.
The solar power system also provides a renewable energy source for operating the borehole. Reliable access to water is one of the basic conditions that is critical for families returning to the area. It reduces the need to spend money and time finding alternative supplies, reduces the risks attached to using unreliable sources of water, and allows households to meet survival needs consistently. Marwan hopes that the water network will eventually be expanded to reach all returnee families in Hasraya, while Fawza hopes the service will remain available and continue to improve for households throughout the area. Both expressed their gratitude to Action Against Hunger and the Syria Humanitarian Fund for supporting the rehabilitation works.
The rehabilitation of the Hasraya pumping station and water network addresses a practical but essential need for the communities it serves. For residents such as Marwan and Fawza, access to water closer to home means less reliance on alternative sources and fewer obstacles in managing everyday life.
